Tall Buildings, Design, and Technology: Visions for the Twenty-First Century City

Abstract

The world population will drastically increase in the future, particularly in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Even in Europe, where some cities are experiencing a negative growth rate, on the whole the population will steadily increase. In Australia and Canada, as well, population will steadily increase, although in the United States the growth rate will be higher because of the influx of immigrants and natural growth. Thus, the threat of overpopulation is looming over the entire world. It is expected that the urban population will almost double in the coming 40 years: it will increase from 3.5 billion in 2010 to 6.5 billion in 2050 worldwide (United Nations, 2007). The migration of the rural population to cities is a major cause of this increase. People want to move where there are other people, din and bustle, a flurry of activities, social and recreational services, and above all employment opportunities. Once people get used to urban living, they rarely go back to the country side. Therefore, urban planners, architects, developers, social scientists, and political leaders have to ask the following hard questions: • What can be done with existing cities in order to accommodate the increase in the urban population? • How should cities be regenerated; and how can new cities be built? • Can cities expand laterally without sprawling and destroying valuable agricultural land? • Will a vertical expansion be a viable option? This paper examines these questions by studying tall buildings and associated technological developments, and their impact on cities. It first provides an historical account on the early development of tall buildings. Next, it examines visionary tall building projects proposed by architects and urban planners from various parts of the world. Then, the paper engages the reader in a discussion on the issue of height limit from economic, technological, and ego perspectives. The paper closes by emphasizing the significant role of tall and supertall buildings in twenty-first-century cities.