Actually, rather than being the future community of tomorrow, it appears that Nuketown is, in fact, a nuclear test site. To whit, there are several features placed in the map to support the nuked feel as well as playing on the fact that it was a demonstration community.
For one, there are "collectibles" scattered around. These take the forms of 50's-styled mannequins, posed in various places or, perhaps, sticking out through the window of a car, having been displaced by a blast. You can't do anything to damage these mannequins, save to remove their heads. However, you can take their heads off with an accurate shot (or a slice with your combat knife, if you can reach 'em). In a similar fashion, there are towers of nicely stacked luggage trunks, with a small terra cotta planter on top. Shooting it changes its appearance. Just sayin'. Also scattered around are teddy bears. These have a very collectible feel as well. What happens if you get them all? How should I know, but I'm sure there's something. And even if there is no reward for knocking the heads off of every mannequin in town, it at least makes it less likely that you'll mistake one for a zombie - or worse yet, mistake a zombie for a harmless mannequin.
Adding to the post-apocalyptic neo-ground-zero-esque appeal, the houses and buildings are suffering from serious damage, from parts that are blown open, parts that are blown off and parts that are on fire. The environment took quite a brunt of a blast and you'll need to learn to take advantage of the unique features (such as a slightly open garage door) while being wary of unique dangers (such as a hole in the roof in the aforementioned garage). Attention to detail means that Nuketown Zombies has an awesome assortment of eye-pleasing visuals, from a huge mushroom cloud billowing in the distance to very realistic spiraling tornado-like flames in a back yard. (They remind me of a similar flame effect I saw in real life at the Backdraft Backlot Tour at Universal Studios way back when.)
Other maps have vending machines that serve up power-ups to any players who can afford them. Well, Nuketown offers the same vending machines, eventually. In the normal maps, these vending machines are in preset locations and you have to buy your way past blocked obstacles to get to more of them. Nuketown has obstacles to unblock (quite a few, actually), but the vending machines aren't even there at the beginning of the game. They are "dropped in," bomb-style, as the game progresses. I've never seen one actually drop in, but the arrival of a new vending machine is accompanied by a warning and a bomb blast. I haven't noticed if you take damage or not, but you may want to get indoors or duck down when the blast goes off, just as a precaution.
The layout of Nuketown is different than other levels, as well. For one thing, the other Zombie levels have a couple of buildings with one or two areas each and that's about it (not considering the Tranzit Mode, of course). Nuketown, on the other hand, has a lot of different areas to open up, each with various additional doors or blockages to clear. In turn, these buildings open to back yards, with additional areas to open. A lot of this level occurs outside, with the buildings more or less connecting these outdoor areas. Additionally, these outdoor areas tend to feature long "corridor"-esque areas, which are perfect for forming the zombies up into "trains" in order to make them easier to manage and to maximize the effectiveness of your ammo. It feels so good to work up a line of zombies trailing after you and to fire a shotgun into the undead mass and see three zombies twirl to the ground from your one shot.
