Tall Towers Break Records, in Height and Numbers

"What accounts for the supertall trend? Oldfield partly attributes it to a growing interest in sustainability. Noting that denser cities are becoming widely accepted as essential to the prevention of climate change, he says, 'high tall buildings are an integral part of creating that density.' He adds that other drivers include rising land prices, which make height an economic necessity, and public perception. 'Tall buildings are global icons,' he says, and can catapult cities and whole countries into the global arena.

Terence Riley, curator of the 2004 Tall Buildings exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, agrees and suggests that Americans in particular 'can look to the skyscraper as a truly American invention.' The world's first skyscraper is considered by most to be William Le Baron Jenney's 1885 Home Insurance Building in Chicago. 'I think there's a kind of pride and awe in the technology that is not totally misplaced,' adds Riley."