# "The World's Best Skylines"



## PanaManiac (Mar 26, 2005)

*Do you agree or disagree with the ranking system setforth below? (click on link and evaluate before voting)

The World's Best Skylines​*​


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## mhays (Sep 12, 2002)

No. It doesn't put my city high enough. 

I'm partially kidding, but not totally. Seattle's skyline is aided by the CBD being located on a hill. Looking from Elliott Bay, most buildings are 50' to 250' higher than the waterfront. This gives the skyline not only a lot more height, but a three-dimensional, active quality people seem to like. 

Also, quality is important too, and it's not counted. 

Even in quantitative terms, a skyline is different when the buildings are arrayed in a linear fashion a few deep, vs a square. It's good for a skyline to not be "see through", but once you've achieved that, the ones in the back don't help anymore, in terms of skyline.


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## zachus22 (Dec 4, 2006)

Theoretically, I could build a skyline of 40 000 m popsicle sticks and earn the title of the World's Best Skyline according to this system.

In general though, sheer numbers and height are impressive (a la Hong Kong and New York) and skylines I would - by my own judgment - deem the most impressive skylines are up there near the top. Still, kind of a one dimensional ranking.


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## Skybean (Jun 16, 2004)

I don't it's entirely accurate as well. Probably massively under-counting Chinese cities.

Chongqing








posted by macpolo


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## PanaManiac (Mar 26, 2005)

Skybean said:


> I don't it's entirely accurate as well. *Probably massively under-counting Chinese cities.*posted by macpolo


*Whaddaya mean?! Half the top ten are Chinese cities, including #1.*


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## z0rg (Jan 17, 2003)

^^ The ranking is mostly based on Emporis data, which ignores 80% of 30-40 floor towers in most Chinese cities. Only HK and Macau are accurate.

Notice that according to that ranking Macau has China's 7th largest skyline, absolutely ridiculous. It is incredible how people keep trusting Emporis. Even half of the approved supertalls in China haven't been added. 

Back to Chongqing, surprisingly they added Neo China complex at last (240m, completed a couple of weeks ago). I promise this tower wasn't added just 1 month ago. Even so some 200m+ towers already completed 4 years ago are still 'under construction' according to Emporis.

Anyway at least Chongqing as a first tier city is more or less represented with a 40%~ of its 30+ floor towers added (at least those finished more than 3 years ago, probably less than 10% of the ones recently finished, u/c or approved are added). 

The coverage of second tier cities is grotesque. Random example: Yantai. According to Emporis Yantai has 5x13-36 floor towers completed, and that's ALL. Reality: Yantai has several towers above 50 floors u/c, including a supertall, a second supertall proposed, and quite a nice skyline already built:


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## ØlandDK (May 29, 2005)

Does a big skyline necessarily make it a good skyline?


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## centralcali19 (Jan 6, 2007)

^^^^ IMO it doesnt always make it a good skyline..many Asian cities have massive skyline but the quality of the skyline is bad. Also i think American cities are more recognizable than other cities...


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## anakngpasig (Jul 29, 2005)

i don't agree
there many
skyscrapers in Manila
above
200 meters
not 
listed in Emporis.


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## MDguy (Dec 16, 2006)

Nope because this is factual information and if a person ranks the worlds best skylines, it's there opinion


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## -Corey- (Jul 8, 2005)

Nope, because if we are talking about Quality then Chicago would be higher than Dubai, dubai #3? :hahaha:


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## Imperfect Ending (Apr 7, 2003)

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder..?


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## Marcanadian (May 7, 2005)

Las Vegas ahead of Mexico City, Paris, London, Vancouver, Calgary, Frankfurt, Montreal and Taipei, Chicago not in the top 3, Toronto not in the top 10, Dubai at the number 3 spot. I think it's a stupid list.


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## karim aboussir (Dec 4, 2006)

yep american skylines are different from each other U can tell what city it is 
asian skylines all look the same in many ways hard to tell which city it is


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## espada89 (Jul 26, 2008)

not sure..anyway its ranking is depending on only number of buildings above 90m and also its hieght..so maybe if u calculate these by point,it would be in this order..but its probably wrong to say "best skylines"maybe better to say if its called ranking of massive or densed city


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## ØlandDK (May 29, 2005)

centralcali19 said:


> ^^^^ IMO it doesnt always make it a good skyline..many Asian cities have massive skyline but the quality of the skyline is bad. Also i think American cities are more recognizable than other cities...


Exactly what I ment. Big skylines can be really impressive but not always beautiful - Sao Paolo for example.


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## nygirl (Jul 14, 2003)

No. They don't take into consideration quality, style, silouhette... they're just going by amount. 
Dubai is @ # 3 but pretty much everything that has gone up, has gone up in a ten year period. It is truly a 1 dimensional skyline. Glass is great and we are living in an era of glass skyscrapers, I get that.. but there should certainly be more to qualify. Height is very important but variety should definetly be a factor. Density is important but its nothing without a true silouhette. 
Dubai should be way lower.. we are giving it way too much credit than it deserves. To me it is just etching out its notch on the totem pole and whether or not it fills its desert coastline with 1200', 1300' gallore its still at the bottom of that pole. 
Hong Kong, Chicago, New York City, Shanghai should be the first 4 in any order and then a huge drop to #5. 
Hong Kong can get away with not having the architectural diversity in its skyline that NY and Chicago have because they're trophy buildings are totally classy, sleek, and aesthetically pleasing.


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## ZtBoy (Jan 26, 2007)

Let me get this straight...you get points for buildings in your city (incl. the metro area) that are not part of the CDB? OK?


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## BrickellResidence (Feb 4, 2008)

mexico city got more buildings over 200 so mexico city has better skyline than sao paulo except panama city.


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## _00_deathscar (Mar 16, 2005)

Shanghai #4 nygirl?


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## Intoxication (Jul 24, 2005)

No because the data is mostly from emporis. Which is not an accurate source to begin with.


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## nygirl (Jul 14, 2003)

_00_deathscar said:


> Shanghai #4 nygirl?





nygirl said:


> Hong Kong, Chicago, New York City, Shanghai should be the first 4 *in any order *and then a huge drop to #5.


:cheers:


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## _00_deathscar (Mar 16, 2005)

nygirl said:


> :cheers:


Well yes, I meant in the top 4 - quite surprised at that.

It's "up there" as a contender certainly, but I wouldn't label it as clear cut as the first 3. Think there is still a massive gap between the "big 3" and then a few (Dubai, Shanghai, etc), and then another big gap.


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## koolkid (Apr 17, 2006)

Dubai's skyscrapers are mostly on a strip. That's definitely a disadvantage becuase it limits the different viewpoints from which you can actually appreciate the skyline. This is not the case for Hong Kong, NY and Chicago, which are definiitely skylines that are more interesting, imo. YOu can literally go almost anywhere around these cities and expect different views of the skyline, it changes from place to place. Now that's what I call best skylines... Dubai could probably be 5th place though. Manila's and Tokyo's skylines are also great, underrated imo...


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## PanaManiac (Mar 26, 2005)

koolkid said:


> *Dubai's skyscrapers are mostly on a strip. That's definitely a disadvantage becuase it limits the different viewpoints from which you can actually appreciate the skyline.* This is not the case for Hong Kong, NY and Chicago, which are definiitely skylines that are more interesting, imo. YOu can literally go almost anywhere around these cities and expect different views of the skyline, it changes from place to place. Now that's what I call best skylines... Dubai could probably be 5th place though. Manila's and Tokyo's skylines are also great, underrated imo...


*The reasoning for your preference is sound, but I would take exception to what I highlighted. Style does not alter the substance of Dubai's skyline, which will continue to expand way beyond the strip.*


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## PanaManiac (Mar 26, 2005)

*Of the 47 votes cast to this point, only 25 (incl. me and/or plural posts) have posted a reply. I suspect that the vast majority of "no" votes are from those who don't agree with the ranking of their favorite city(ies). Only few have actually challenged the ranking system...*


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## philadweller (Oct 30, 2003)

Well, I don't believe it because they rated Las Vegas higher than Philadephia's skyline.
The first 10 are somewhat accurate. I agree that big doesn't necessarily mean better in terms of visual appeal for a skyline.


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## bonivison (Jan 17, 2007)

Hongkong Newyork Shanghai Chicago
are really always in my top 4!


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## espada89 (Jul 26, 2008)

its normal to have personal opinion.but u cant just judge a city with posted pictures u have ever seen.i mean,in this case of ranking..like number of buildings.example..city like NY HK (etc)have concentrated skyline.so it makes u feel the impact.but some cities has realy ceparated same level skylines and scrapers far each other.so its hard to rank with personal opinion as u dont realy know about cities u dont hav interst on..though even the sources like in emporis are not good enough to rate


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## City_of_Fury (Jun 8, 2008)

OH!! Buenos Aires is 46!!


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## PanaManiac (Mar 26, 2005)

City_of_Fury said:


> OH!! Buenos Aires is 46!!


* Are you surprised and/or in favor of that ranking?*


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## xlchris (Jun 23, 2006)

First city of NL is Rotterdam, at 119. Going to change soon because lots of skyscrapers are u/c and some 200m+ are proposed. So, hopefully we will rise!


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## The other Dude (Jan 30, 2008)

i voted no mostly because tel aviv can never be higher than vancouver... and im not from canada









tel aviv









vancouver


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## Vanman (May 19, 2004)

^That pic of Vancouver is at least ten years old if not older.


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## Skyline_FFM (May 25, 2008)

The system is okay. But 90m is too short. I would put 120m as criteria!


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## rossie1977 (Jul 17, 2007)

philadweller said:


> Well, I don't believe it because they rated Las Vegas higher than Philadephia's skyline.
> The first 10 are somewhat accurate. I agree that big doesn't necessarily mean better in terms of visual appeal for a skyline.


its strange alrite, in terms of buildings over 700ft philly beats out vegas but vegas does beat out philly with more buildings from 699ft to 500ft 

stratosphere (las vegas) 1149ft
Comcast Center (*philly*) 975ft
One Liberty Place (*philly*) 945ft
Two Liberty Place (*philly*) 848ft
Mellon Bank Center (*philly*) 794ft
Bell Atlantic Tower (*philly*) 739ft
Fontainebleau (las vegas) 735ft
Palazzo (las vegas) 645ft
Encore (las vegas) 630ft
G. Fred DiBona, Jr. Building (*philly*) 625ft
Trump (las vegas) 625ft
Wynn (las vegas) 615ft
Cosmopolitan X 2 towers (las vegas) 600ft
Aria (las vegas) 600ft 
Planet Hollywood (las vegas) 600ft
Vdara (las vegas) 585ft
Commerce Square (*philly*) 565ft
city hall (*philly*) 548ft


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## houstonskyscraper (Aug 19, 2008)

Houston


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## Skybean (Jun 16, 2004)

_00_deathscar said:


> Shanghai #4 nygirl?


It certainly_ feels_ much larger than NYC, Chicago and Hong Kong. Pictures do not give you an accurate scale. It is undercounted on almost every webpage. I really cannot believe how people don't give it as much respect as these cities. Certainly personal opinion on aesthetics may be one factor which reduces its score, but I think the sheer size of Shanghai's built form should it close to the top of the list. 

Also how about Taipei, Taiwan?










Tokyo, Japan?


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## spire1000 (Sep 27, 2008)

nope not at all


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## kix111 (Jun 14, 2007)

shanghai has 574 buildings above 90M, however, shanghai has 400+ buildings over 100m, ranking world number 1.

=/ but still i think the ranking is pretty ok


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## crawford (Dec 9, 2003)

kix111 said:


> shanghai has 574 buildings above 90M, however, shanghai has 400+ buildings over 100m, ranking world number 1.
> 
> =/ but still i think the ranking is pretty ok


Source??

The Shanghai homers always make this claim, but never have a source...


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## crawford (Dec 9, 2003)

Skybean said:


> It certainly_ feels_ much larger than NYC, Chicago and Hong Kong.


This is just your opinion. Most would disagree.

I think one can argue that Shanghai's skyline is competitive with Chicago.

Hong Kong or NYC, no way, at least not yet. Maybe one day.


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## Adrian12345Lugo (May 12, 2008)

crawford said:


> This is just your opinion. Most would disagree.
> 
> I think one can argue that Shanghai's skyline is competitive with Chicago.
> 
> Hong Kong or NYC, no way, at least not yet. Maybe one day.


please Shanghai crushes Chicago

*SCROOOLLL>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>*







[/QUOTE]


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## 3521usa (Dec 23, 2007)

^^Maybe in the number of buildings but that's it and I wouldn't say crush.


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## null (Dec 11, 2002)

crawford said:


> This is just your opinion. Most would disagree.
> 
> I think one can argue that Shanghai's skyline is competitive with Chicago.
> 
> Hong Kong or NYC, no way, at least not yet. Maybe one day.


i agree with this pic 

by Xiaobai

scroll>>>>>>


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## Skyline_FFM (May 25, 2008)

In number of highrises Shanghai is in one level with Hong Kong. These two can compete with each other in this category.
But in classic skyscrapers, style, design and mixture of styles they are far behind Big Apple and Chicago!


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## Cornelious (Sep 5, 2008)

Shanghai's skyline is kind of ugly and undefined. It actually looks kind of like Sao Paulo. Hong Kong kills it. Chicago's looks way better. So does New York for that matter.


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## l'eau (Jul 7, 2008)

shangai's and dubai's skylines arent good.they are just have good and high designed skyscrapers.

i find newyork's skyscrapers ugly but newyork have the best skyline.


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## buildmilehightower (Mar 29, 2008)

It's all about Shanghai .


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## luci203 (Apr 28, 2008)

One of the main reason I don't agree with this is that they count UC buildings.


Hong Kong - International Commerce Centre (484m, u/c) 

New York - Freedom Tower (541m, u/c) 

Dubai - Dubai (818m, u/c) 

Shanghai China 574 Shanghai World Financial Center (492m, u/c) 

Chicago USA 345 Chicago Spire (610m, u/c) 

If ICC and Burj Dubai are almost finished, and add to the skyline, FT and CS are at ground level.

I'm sure that the insane score of Dubai is because they add to the list buildings like The Pentominium, Burj al Alam, whom are at ground level or Princess Tower, Marina 101, DAMAC Heights, Lighthouse Tower and many more towers at ground level or under 100m.


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## Skybean (Jun 16, 2004)

crawford said:


> This is just your opinion. Most would disagree.


Only people who have not been to all of the cities would say such a thing. I don't think many would disagree at all. In New York, the drop-off from dense highrise to single storey housing is quite dramatic. You have a huge commuter population which travels to work from the surburbs. In contrast, there is a significantly higher percentage of people in Shanghai living in more dense multi-storey highrises. 



Skyline_FFM said:


> In number of highrises Shanghai is in one level with Hong Kong.


Shanghai has many more highrises spread over a much larger area.

This is Mainland China's largest city. The majority of housing is dense multi-storey buildings. There is nowhere near the amount of sprawl which is found in North American cities. There is no shame in conceding the truth.


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## Tubeman (Sep 12, 2002)

Becoming City v City


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