Besides making cities more affordable and architecturally interesting, tall buildings are greener than sprawl, and they foster social capital and creativity. Yet some urban planners and preservationists seem to have a misplaced fear of heights that yields damaging restrictions on how tall a building can be. From New York to Paris to Mumbai, there’s a powerful case for building up, not out.
Interesting… there certainly are more issues with tall buildings than meet the eye, but in the right places they can be ‘beacons’ of architecture and urban planning.
I am pretty Glaeserian about height and density. Light, greenspace, and historic buildings are good, but their costs are deeply underestimated.
Interesting read, whether you’re an architecture buff or not.
