In the early 20th century, the United States was the undisputed champion of skyscraper construction, but that has tapered off dramatically. While the skylines of many European cities are conspicuously low-rise, an exception to that rule is in Moscow’s International Business Centre, where four 300m+ towers have been completed since 2012. Today, Dubai is home to nearly 1,000 high-rise buildings, and there are 13 projects currently under construction that will hit or exceed the 300m mark. In total, 46 of the world’s 100 tallest skyscrapers are now located in China, and that number is sure to increase in coming years.Ĭonstruction has been relentless in UAE for decades, and much of that development has been vertically-oriented. Today, 20 of the 100 tallest buildings on earth are located in just this one urban megaregion of China. In particular, the Pearl River Delta megaregion, which is anchored by Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, has seen an astonishing commercial construction boom. Since 2012, China has added 38 skyscrapers over 300m (~1,000 ft) in height, and there are another 16 skyscrapers on the way in 2018. Nearly every sizeable Chinese city has skyscrapers under construction, and the numbers are staggering. Global skyscraper construction has increased a whopping 402% since 2000. In the last two years, 39 skyscrapers taller than 300m have been constructed, with five of the them eclipsing the height of the Empire State Building. With the explosion of urbanization around the world and developing economies asserting themselves in high profile ways, the stage is set for a global skyscraper boom. In general, only very large cities have the resources to build and support extremely tall buildings. It’s headlined by Jeddah Tower, a skyscraper currently under construction in Saudi Arabia that will smash the one kilometer mark when it’s completed in 2019. Today’s visualization is an effective way to take in the mind-bending scale of the newest generation of megatall buildings. Today, the paramount belief system in many parts of the world is in capitalism, and there is no more potent marker of the economic might than fantastically tall commercial skyscrapers. To see the full resolution version of this infographic that has higher legibility, click here.Īs the creator of today’s visualization, Alberto Lucas López, points out, “the world’s tallest buildings have acted as barometers”.Īnother way of putting it? Our biggest architectural accomplishments are highly visible symbols of what society values most, and those values have changed over time.
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