# Top 20 World's Best Skyline



## normandb (Jan 11, 2005)

Top 20 Metropolis: 2005 Ranking of World's Best Skyline

1 Hong Kong
2 New York
3 Tokyo
4 Shanghai
5 Chicago
6 Bangkok
7 Singapore
8 Kuala Lumpur
9 Dubai
10 Seoul
11 Shenzhen
12 Chongqing
13 Manila
14 Toronto
15 Sydney
16 Houston
17 Guangzhou
18 Osaka
19 Los Angeles
20 Moscow

AGREE or DISAGREE? and why?

*Note: This thread is pure discussion only. Don't post any photos, if photos are needed just provide us the links. Thank You and Enjoy. *


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## Handsome (May 2, 2005)

5 China cities


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## normandb (Jan 11, 2005)

Handsome said:


> 5 China cities


this is the only thread where both of us agree..peace.


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## James Saito (Nov 6, 2002)

Yeah, pretty much right.


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## NWside (Oct 1, 2003)

You can't judge a skyline solely on height, and not include aesthetics, placement, and other important qualifications. Even though judging a skyline for most parts is purely a subjective argument, I personally don't agree that most of the Asian countries rank higher just due to the sheer amount of skyscraper construction going on.


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## Melb99 (Dec 3, 2004)

I do believe Melbourne would easily come before sydney, easily. But thats just opinion.


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## Beacon (Mar 14, 2005)

Yeah, it seems right, but I personally think Melbourne's skyline (no 21) is more impressive than Moscow's and LA's. Just an opinion though.


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## asianguy (Jul 10, 2005)

This list is only as accurate as the points are.


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## samsonyuen (Sep 23, 2003)

The positions I don't agree with, but I agree with most of the cities.

1 Hong Kong-Agree
2 New York-Agree
3 Tokyo-Agree 
4 Shanghai-Disagree
5 Chicago-Agree
6 Bangkok-Disagree
7 Singapore-Agree
8 Kuala Lumpur-Disagree
9 Dubai-Disagree
10 Seoul-Agree
11 Shenzhen-Disagree
12 Chongqing-Disagree
13 Manila-Agree
14 Toronto-Agree
15 Sydney-Agree
16 Houston-Agree
17 Guangzhou-Disagree
18 Osaka-Agree
19 Los Angeles-Agree
20 Moscow-Disagree

I'd add: Melbourne, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Boston, Vancouver


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## XiaoBai (Dec 10, 2002)

Disagree, some of these cities don't even have skylines--at least not compared to a lot of the cities that are left off...the cities that samsonyuen mentioned should be there in place of some others.


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## shibuya_suki (Apr 24, 2005)

this list is based on the quality of skyscraper
how can shanghai and tokyo has rivally skyline to hk and ny?
for quantity of high rise,this chart is quite correct


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## asianguy (Jul 10, 2005)

samsonyuen said:


> The positions I don't agree with, but I agree with most of the cities.
> 
> 4 Shanghai-Disagree
> 
> I'd add: Melbourne, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Boston, Vancouver


I bet you have not been to Shanghai. It has to be within top 20 and has a better skyline than Los Angeles and Vancouver. I've been to both Los Angeles and Vancouver, and they skylines combined would probably be only half of Shanghai's.


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## asianguy (Jul 10, 2005)

shibuya_suki said:


> this list is based on the quality of skyscraper
> how can shanghai and tokyo has rivally skyline to hk and ny?
> for quantity of high rise,this chart is quite correct


This list is based on number quantity x average height.


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## aussiescraperman (Apr 5, 2005)

Moscow does not have a skyline, and even with it's new city district, it will still look small, with no density sourrounding the talls.


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## asianguy (Jul 10, 2005)

What are the rules? 
This list is an attempt to rank the impressiveness of city skylines. The score of a city is equal to the sum of all building heights (in m, without spires) after substraction of the minimum of 90m/295ft for each building. Freestanding towers (i.e. thin structures with no floors over most of their height) count for half their height.


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## normandb (Jan 11, 2005)

I agree with the ranking and I believe it (not just because my hometown is included) because they use a mathematical formula which is acceptable to many and their system applies to all cities (which means fair and square) unlike in other ranking where the results are base on polls or surveys which is really flawed since biases are unavoidable.

IMO *Skyline is all about Height and Density. It should be a combination of the two*. Take for example the Taipei Metropolis, though it is home to the world's tallest skyscraper, the Taipei 101, it only ranks 49th. It has the height but the Skyscrapers are not dense enough to make an impressive skyline. Another example is Mumbai, it has very dense commercial and residential buildings in the city proper but it lacks the height thats why it doesnt make an impressive skyline. This is just my opinion what about yours?


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## xantarc (Jul 19, 2005)

For my choice;
1 Hong Kong
2 Chicago
3 New York
4 Boston
5 Houston
6 Dallas
7 Toronto
8 Minneapolis
9 Edmonton
10 Melbourne
11 Calgary
12 Tokyo
13 Los Angeles
14 Manila
15 Sydney
16 Santiago De Chile 
17 Vancouver
18 Seattle
19 Winnipeg
20 Dubai

Many Asian cities are overrated. Some cities is quite average-- like Shanghai/Osaka/Kuala Lumpur. Those buildings seems not very modern.


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## normandb (Jan 11, 2005)

asianguy said:


> What are the rules?
> This list is an attempt to rank the impressiveness of city skylines. The score of a city is equal to the sum of all building heights (in m, without spires) after substraction of the minimum of 90m/295ft for each building. Freestanding towers (i.e. thin structures with no floors over most of their height) count for half their height.


This means all buildings which is equal or less than 90 meters are not included. If a metropolis has lots ot buildings with a very dense skyline and its tallest is 90 meters this is equal to ground level which means zero (0) structure.


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## asianguy (Jul 10, 2005)

ncbmandy said:


> This means all buildings which is equal or less than 90 meters are not included. If a metropolis has lots ot buildings with a very dense skyline and its tallest is 90 meters this is equal to ground level which means zero (0) structure.


Yes, 90 metres is probably 26-28 storeys. I think that's the site's minimum height qualification for a skyscraper.


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## santro (Jul 19, 2005)

*Hi every one!!!*

I'm a new i want to make friend with all.ok?


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## london-b (Jul 31, 2004)

Disagree


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## zulu69 (Sep 5, 2003)

I diagree mainly with the order and some choices.


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## EdZed (Mar 29, 2005)

I agree with most, but i think melbourne and vancouver should be there and Toronto should be higher.


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## Dino Domingo (Jan 5, 2005)

The top two are fine... every other choice is seriously flawed and out of place.

What is up with TOKYO being so high on the list? Tokyo does not have one distinctive cluster like conventional skylines... its too spread out... no central core. 

Tokyo should NOT be in the top ten at all for skylines. Dubai's skyline is better than Tokyo's.


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## Stanpolitan (Jul 14, 2005)

I disaggree strongly there are very important cities left out. Very biased listing!


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## neilio (Jan 12, 2005)

WTF? Toronto at 14?!


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## sebvill (Apr 13, 2005)

I agree somehow....however I think that Latin American cities are too underestimated, come on what about Rio, Sao Paulo, Mexico City??? Lima with a population of 7.5 millions isn´t even in the first 200!!! In there it is very expensive to build large towers due to the earthquakes but the city count with many buildings, some very interesting, plus it is in a very unique site - Miraflores, one the districts with more buildings is over a cliff facing the enormous Pacific Ocean!!! Incredible, no words...what about Santigo, Bogota, Caracas...they are all amazing cities with amazing skyscrapers!!


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## lanztrick05 (Oct 22, 2004)

AGREE


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## Nongkhai_tong (Dec 27, 2004)

The Mad Hatter!! said:


> i really don't think this list is right,i can think of many skylines that are better than,moscow,Guangzhou, Chongqing, Manila,Shenzhen,and bangkok


Have you ever been to any of those cities yet? if not see this pic of Bangkok


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## DXB (Nov 12, 2004)

The Mad Hatter!! said:


> i really don't think this list is right,i can think of many skylines that are better than,moscow,Guangzhou, Chongqing, Manila,Shenzhen,and bangkok


well said


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## bobdikl (Jul 20, 2004)

samsonyuen said:


> The positions I don't agree with, but I agree with most of the cities.
> 
> 8 Kuala Lumpur-Disagree


well..in term of "Skyline" I think Kuala Lumpur should remain in the top 10 list..because of KUALA LUMPUR & PETRONAS


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## titeness (Jul 3, 2004)

Disagree slightly, Shanghai should be #3, Chinago #4, Tokyo further down.


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## [email protected] (Jun 29, 2004)

Disagree : where is seattle , philadelphie , montreal , la defense , vancouver , london , frankfurt , san francisco ...


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## mdude (Jul 8, 2005)

Manila and Los Angeles? Where do these come from? Manila's skyline is not worth mentioning... what about Paris, San Francisco, Sao Paolo...?


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## micro (Mar 13, 2005)

Disagree. The "best" skylines cannot be determined with a mathematical algorithm. Call it the "highest" skylines instead. 

I find Chicago's skyline much more aesthetically impressive than Tokyo's for instance.


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## skyscrapercity (Aug 31, 2004)

micro said:


> The "best" skylines cannot be determined with a mathematical algorithm. Call it the "highest" skylines instead.
> 
> I find Chicago's skyline much more aesthetically impressive than Tokyo's for instance.


Who can determine "the best skyline" easily? I mean, giving everybody's 100% consent.
as long as "BEST SKYLINE" depends on personal tastes and judgements
not to mention biased point of views, prejudice over cities & patriotic sentiment.

Just look at this forum.
Most people come to claim that their own cities have the best skyline or have to be higher on the list, flying the their flag.


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## skyscrapercity (Aug 31, 2004)

mdude said:


> Manila's skyline is not worth mentioning... what about Paris, San Francisco, Sao Paolo...?


Don't Underestimate Manila's skyline, not having a leg to stand on
To me, Manila(with Makati) have cool skyline in terms of aesthetic standards and sense.

Also, Manila(with Makati) have the taller and more completed skyscrapers than Paris and Sao Paolo's over 200m
although only tall skyscrapers can't always make a cool skyline, as I always said.


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## oxy25 (Oct 11, 2004)

it seems okay, but cities like Toronto, Sydney, etc should be higher...


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

How is Chicago skyline left in #5 after Tokyo(#3) and the Toronto skyline on the bottom of the list???? The top 10 skylines in the world is already tuf enuf, and you want to make it a top 20, so the disagreements automatically increase 2 folds. Besides, the skyline rating most like influence by the personal taste and yours certainly aren't what I am thinking. Good try!


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

By the way, the web site you link to is just another opinion. Its methods for concluding its list of "world's best skyline" which is more like world's skyline with the most buildings > 90m. Why not make it most buildings > 100m or >200m or even > 300m, aren't they are looking for the BEST in the world! Why go for the small number like the 90m,LOL! Anyway, this is also my opinion too. So it is kinda informative to know each cities has that many number of buildings over 90m. As the limit of buildings height increase, the number will be dramatically changed and again, you have a completely new set of list to judge! Just my take on their rating system, no offense or anything!


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

Azn_chi_boi said:


> I disagree because, skylines are not about how many the city has, its a personally feeling. It is like this... Sure Dubai will be #1 soon, but those skyscrapers there have like no postive feeling to me.
> 
> Personally, I like a skyline with buildings, for the most part with small or no spires. I want historic buildings, not all buildings made in the 1920's or all buildings made in this decade. I want green open area, where you could see when you skyline. Also, maybe a mountain background, but that isn't really important.



Good point Azn! To rate the best skyline in the world certainly isn't an easy task! But, the site took an easy way to conclude something uneasy, the result is just as biased as personal opinion. Each city skyline has its uniqueness, history, quality, quantity, ARCHITECTURE, and more factors... So I will take their statistical values as consideration and rather going straight to the conclusion, besides, what they are rating isn't the BEST skyline in the world. They are rating the skyline with the highest overall building combine after they picked a relative number like above 90m. So I will be more speculative rather then blindly believe in it. 


Just check out my first signature link and it will give you some ideas too about the world's best skyline, afterall, the more information you have, the better you will make you decision. :|


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## Bertez (Jul 9, 2005)

How on Earth is Toronto 14 :wtf: :wtf: .... That survey was obviously Asian biased. Shenzhen, Chongqing, Manila better than Vancouver, Sydney, Toronto, Melbourne!!!!! Thats like saying a 3 star hotel is better than a 5 star Hotel.....


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## HirakataShi (Feb 8, 2004)

Tokyo should have been number one. Tokyo is like the skylines of all the others put together. Other cities have a centralised skyline surrounded by lower-rise residential areas. Tokyo is one continuous sky of high-rises.


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## HirakataShi (Feb 8, 2004)

And where the heck is Osaka on this list? Manila, Chongqing, Vancover, Melbourne beat Osaka? :wtf:


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## LAuniverso (Apr 4, 2005)

A building above 90 meters is considered high rise so most major cities in europe, canada and america ranks lower since most of their buildings are below 90 meters. Their formula applied to all the cities and they did not base that on perception or feeling so I think there is no bias in that ranking, they use a formula and that formula is constant when they applied to all the cities so I agree in this ranking. Well let us all admit that all highrises are loacated in the far east and not europe or north america so I am not surprised why australian, european like us and american are against in this ranking because their cities are not included in the top 10. We are the one who is bias and not the ranking itself.

@HirakataShi. You are from Japan thats why you dont agree because Osaka is not in the top ranking. You are bias. How many buildings above 90meters are there in osaka?


@Bertez. How many tall buildings are there in Vancouver, Sydney, Toronto, and Melbourne. You are biased. The cities you mentioned cannot even surpass the number of highrises in Shenzen or Manila.

@mdude. How many Skyscrapers are there in Paris which is worthy to be called a skyline?

@DXB. What skylines are you thinking and provide us some figures?

Many of you disagree because the skylines in the third world beats the skyline in your first world cities. That is the root of all your biases.


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

ChicagoSkyline said:


> By the way, the web site you link to is just another opinion. Its methods for concluding its list of "world's best skyline" which is more like world's skyline with the most buildings > 90m. Why not make it most buildings > 100m or >200m or even > 300m, aren't they are looking for the BEST in the world! Why go for the small number like the 90m,LOL! Anyway, this is also my opinion too. So it is kinda informative to know each cities has that many number of buildings over 90m. As the limit of buildings height increase, the number will be dramatically changed and again, you have a completely new set of list to judge! Just my take on their rating system, no offense or anything!


Another point, when you are looking at the really tall skyline(tons of 200m and 300m skyscrapers). Do you likely to notice that 90m tall buildings among those big boys if you have a skyline that has majority of it skyscrapers scaling around 200m-300m? Good examples of city skylines with this pattern are Chicago, HK, NYC, Toronto and many more... My suggestion to that site is to raised their LIMITED height to like above 150m-200m if they really want to find out the real BEST skylines in the world based on their one dimensional conclusion. 

Oh, I have the numbers to back it up. Here are the links to cities with really tall skylines that I mentioned above. Check out the heights of skyscrapers on those cities and then compare them to the list from that site. BTW, don't foreget to pinpoint the height of 90m. See its relative height compare to those 200m and 300m giants!  
Chicago Skyscraper Diagram 
Remeber, Chicago has 3 giants above 350m and they all built before 80s!
Hong Kong 
NYC 
Toronto 

Compare to questionable candidate on their rating:
Tokyo


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## aranetacoliseum (Jun 8, 2005)

HirakataShi said:


> And where the heck is Osaka on this list? Manila, Chongqing, Vancover, Melbourne beat Osaka? :wtf:


MANILA TOTALLY BEATS OSAKA IN TERMS OF SKYLINE......


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## wjfox (Nov 1, 2002)

These are the best skylines, based on the votes of thousands of SSC forumers:

http://www.skyscrapercity.info/900.php?id=1003


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## Mr Bricks (May 6, 2005)

Moscow??? Moscow does not have a skyline at all! How is this possible? And i think LA has a bad skyline as well, Paris skyline is much better than LA. The skyline of LA is equal to the one of London.


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## Grollo (Sep 11, 2002)

wjfox2002 said:


> These are the best skylines, based on the votes of thousands of SSC forumers:
> 
> http://www.skyscrapercity.info/900.php?id=1003


Unfortunately that list has no credibility due to the sabotaging of the Australian cities with hundreds of fake votes of 5 or less for each city in Australia. 

Until this problem is fixed that list is a waste of time, the ranking should start all over again with all votes *public* to try and prevent deliberate sabotage.


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## Jaye101 (Feb 16, 2005)

I see it too. SABATOGE!


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## ReddAlert (Nov 4, 2004)

ncbmandy said:


> Top 20 Metropolis: 2005 Ranking of World's Best Skyline
> 
> 1 Hong Kong
> 2 New York
> ...


I disagree! First off...NY and Chicago are number one and two. Also, lets be honest here..Tokyos *skyline * is pretty weak. Dubai, Manilla, Chonqing, Osaka, Bangkok, Singapore..etc? Singapore is the only memorable one...Dubai has an ugly skyline at this point in time. The probem is that most of these Asian skylines are ugly and have poor architecture....I would take Frankfurt, Germany over places like Shenzhen.


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## Almenac-SS (Jul 17, 2005)

How is Seoul 10.. while Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Dubai are all ahead of Seoul... 

this just proves that Seoul is very underrated.. it should atleast be up there in the top 5 or atleast top 6...

and toronto... toronto skyline is not much better than Osaka's... Toronot only has 1 view from which you can see skyscrapers... but seriously speaking.. Dubai AHEAD of Seoul, Manila and... even Moscow.. lol Dubai is like 1/6 the size of Seoul.. it is just an oversized oasis in the middle of nowhere... it is never going to be much of an international city.....

I also believe that the ranking of the cities were partly crafted by some biased perspectives.. due to the high number of certain ethnic groups here.. because this is true, there are some cities here that should not even be in the top 30s or 40s.. these cities were just overly promoted ahead of other more impressive cities.. therefore a lot of impressive cities posted in the forums can be easily overlooked by foreigners...

In conclusion.. I TOTALLY disagree with that crappy list..


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## wickedestcity (Jul 23, 2004)

i wouldnt put chicago anywere less than second or third place !


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## 100%Bloke (Apr 19, 2005)

Tokyo
Shanghai
Bangkok
Dubai
Seoul
Shenzhen
Chongqing
Manila

^^ I cant picture any opf these skylines in my head, they're all just 2 big or jsut same stuff all overthe place, no identity! SYDNEY, CHICAGO, LA .. SHUD BE IN TOP PART.


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