Spire or antenna; what sits atop One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan? The answer isn't just semantics, it will determine if the building is indeed taller than Chicago's Willis Tower. A decision by the official arbiter could come next week.
"There's a question that's looming over the new skyscraper at the World Trade Center site in New York: Should it count as the tallest building in the country?" ask David Schaper and Joel Rose. "The developers say yes. But by some measures, the Willis Tower in Chicago — formerly known as Sears Tower — can still lay claim to the title."
"Now, an obscure organization known as the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat [CTBUH] is preparing to settle the debate."
"What it really comes down to is this: What are we measuring?" asks Antony Wood, CTBUH's executive director. "If we are measuring man's ability to put materials above the plane of the earth, then it should just be material, irrespective of what that material or function is. Or, are we measuring man's ability to put man above the plane of the earth? Are we going with the highest occupied floor? Or something in between?"
UPDATE (11/12/13): The CTBUH has rendered its judgement and 1 WTC has been named the United States' tallest building. According to Kriston Capps, "The Council, which is housed out of the Illinois Institute of Technology (right there in Chicago!), determined that the spire on 1 WTC was a structural component of the building. The antennae at the top of Willis Tower, on the other hand, were deemed communication components, mere afterthoughts from a structural point of view."
FULL STORY: Size Does Matter, At Least In The Tallest Building Debate

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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

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More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?

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Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan
Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.

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The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.
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