Introduction to Skyscrapers

What is a Skyscraper? There is no universally accepted definition for a skyscraper, but to quote United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, "I know it when I see it". I personally like the criteria that The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH, http://www.ctbuh.org/) set: Height relative to context (does the building tower over the skyline?), proportion (is the building tall and pointy?), and tall building technologies (does the building have elevators and wind bracing?). If a building satisfies one or more of the criteria, it is considered a Tall Building.

In particular, I will be focusing on skyscrapers in aggregate across well-developed U.S. cities, probably around 60 stories high. An increasing number of people are moving to cities, and recently the number of people living in cities has surpassed the number of people not.

from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSDNET/0,,contentMDK:22816322~menuPK:64885113~pagePK:7278667~piPK:64911824~theSitePK:5929282,00.html

Now that definitions are out of the way, on to the interesting parts: Skyscrapers reach into more than just sky.

Skyscrapers require a complex network of support for their construction and day-to-day operation. Their influence extends far beyond a city block or skyline; they bring jobs, house people, use power and water, and consume resources. With today's increasing urbanization, we need to take a closer look at how skyscrapers affect their local communities and the world at large.

A matrix showing interconnections between systems surrounding skyscrapers

To visualize the complex system surrounding a skyscraper, I will use the visual metaphor of a small city and its outlying areas. The message to take away is that a skyscraper requires many systems to support their construction and daily operations that take up land and resources, i.e. high-density urbanization has land use and resource costs that aren't immediately evident.

The primary emotion I want people to feel small when viewing the visualization to give them a sense of scale. I also want to make people connect with a human presence in the small city (i.e. by showing people or families in the city), as well as possibly a sense of shame for not considering the impact their own living spaces have on similar systems.