What cities around the world use steam heat and what are the pros and cons?

Hurricane Sandy reminded me that much of New York city is heated by steam From the utility company Con Ed. My relatives who live in Manhattan lost power and running water during the storm. After a few days they had their electricity and running water back, but not their hot water nor heat. Heat for their apartments comes through a central steam system and that was still not functioning.

It made me wonder how many cities use this type of heating, and whether there are any newer cities being built with this type of system. I am pretty sure my campus, Michigan State University heated and cooled using this sort of system. Our dorms were very very warm, I liked that, sometimes people cracked their windows open to let some fresh cool air in.

I also wondered if it can be used in an individual’s home, and how realisic it is. I know solar can heat water very efficiently. It can be used to heat floors and water heaters, but are people using it to heat the air in their homes like a NY apartment?

Any opinions and information you have about the cost of this type of heating system compared to other types would be interesting to me. Cities that utilize the system what are the benefits and drawbacks? What cities do use it?