Located in the center of the Land of Oz, the Emerald City is the end of the famous yellow brick road, which begins in Munchkin Country.

The Oz books generally describe the city as being built of green glass, emeralds, and other jewels.

W. W. Denslow, who illustrated the original Oz book, also incorporated elements that may have been inspired by the White City.

[12] Scholars who interpret The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a political allegory see the Emerald City as a metaphor for Washington, D.C., and unsecured "greenback" paper money.

There, she met the Wizard (President William McKinley), whose power was eventually revealed to be an illusion.

[13] There are also scholars who interpret the Emerald City as a benevolent vision of America with its new priorities and values that emerged with the onset of the industrial order.

[14] Some claim, for instance, that it is 1890s Chicago, which rose on a plain, subsuming unto itself much of the Midwestern creative aspiration so that it becomes the Garden of the West that has long struggled in its prairies.

[15] This interpretation focused on the affirmative descriptions of the city, which reveal the benefits and rewards of the new culture, particularly urban abundance and the economy of consumption.

[19] Greenville, North Carolina is called the Emerald City by locals and tourists alike.

[26] The head office of the Sydney-based merchant banking and private equity firm Emerald Partners is located on top of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia building on the Sydney Harbour foreshore, at Circular Quay.

[citation needed] Fittingly, the word "Oz" can refer to "Australia" in colloquial Australian speech.

Son of a Witch introduces Southstairs, an extensive political prison located in the caves below the Emerald City.