Top 15 Skylines in the world

[horned beef]

One man's opinion doesn't matter much, but It's at least somewhat interesting to hear. I found a "Top 15 Skylines in the World" list on some blog.
Chicago and Shanghai come before New York, which I don't get. Toronto comes in 7th. The picture of our fair city looks terrible, I almost want to send him a better one myself.

www.diserio.com/top15-skylines.html

There's a disscussion (mosly useless) about it at

forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/...nk=1979944

if anyone's got time to kill.

 

[wyliepoon]

Great to see my "hometown" at the top of this list! I have wallpapers of HK on both my computers to kind of remind me of where I come from.

I agree with some of the selections for top skylines, such as Chicago, New York, Sydney, Singapore, and of course, Toronto. I agree with Shanghai being on the list, even though I think Shanghai's skyline, and the city as a whole, is overrated. New York's skyline today unfortunately doesn't seem as powerful as it was before 9/11.

However I think there are some cities that shouldn't be on the list. Their "skylines" are really justa big cluster of tall buildings that aren't really appealing. I'm talking about cities like Shenzhen, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, and even Tokyo (if you think about it, Tokyo doesn't really have a postcard skyline shot). Sao Paulo doesn't have an appealing skyline, but its clusters of skyscrapers are big enough to rival cities like HK (just check out some aerial views of the city and you'll understand). Dubai's skyscraper boom might produce a skyscraper cluster instead of a good skyline, but that might change with the Burj Dubai providing an anchor for the skyline (like Toronto with the CN Tower).

I can name a few "honourable mentions" that have not been mentioned on that page. Vancouver and Montreal for Canada. A lot of cities in the US can make my honourable mentions, but some that stand out include Detroit and Minneapolis. Melbourne, Australia should definitely be mentioned.

 

[EnviroTO]

including the astonishingly tall 553 metre, CN Tower, which is often referred to as the tallest free-standing structure in the world. While mostly untrue (because there are taller TV masts in the world),

What does "mostly untrue" mean in this context? Either it is the "tallest free-standing structure in the world" or it isn't. As far as I know it still is because those TV masts are not free-standing but will not be soon.

 

[El Chico905]

I agree with the top Four. I don't understand why people call New York the best. It lacks colour, and it is too uniform in height like Sao Paulo to stand out. Even though the best buildings in the world are in New Yorkthe way they are massed together is not very appealing. I prefer the "Peak" skyline of Toronto, Houston, Etc.

Tokyo has a decent Skyline in the Shinjuku area. Here's a postcard.

 

[shawnmicallef]

They're cheating with mountains! They don't count.

 

[paulbali]

You'd think Tokyo would have a more architecturally impressive collection of skyscrapers. What's the story?

 

[Canuck 36]

Frequent Godzilla attacks.

 

[mpolo2]

and frequent earthquakes...so, until very recently, there were strict controls over building heights.

 

[doady]

I always have a photo of Tokyo as the background for my desktop. Here is one the photos on my comp, I will only have this up for a few days:

 

[shawnmicallef]

Wow. Tokyo has this tiny infiniteness about it. Look how small that domed stadium is. You could get lost forever in that city, i think.

Edited to say -- look how small the stadium LOOKS, surrounded by all that city.

The interesting thing about Tokyo, arguably as "world class" as a city could get, is that never have had a picture in my head of what it looks like.

 

[TO Tower Fan]

meh...

 

[Archivistower]

Tokyo stole BC place? Where will the Olympics be held now?

 

[boiler2000]

Tokyo has many different skylines, each of which looks different depending on the vantage point - it's very hard to develop a consistent image of it in your mind.

Here's a good view of the Shinjuku skyline as seen from Ebisu:

 

[wyliepoon]

and frequent earthquakes...so, until very recently, there were strict controls over building heights.

Just picked up my National Geographic this week, with a feature on earthquakes. It says that unprotected midrise buildings are more prone to collapse than highrise building, which will tend to do little but sway back and forth in an earthquake.

No wonder why the Discovery Channel makes a big fuss once in a while about the next big quake in Tokyo.