CITIES IN THE SKY

From one of the world's foremost experts on the economics of skyscrapers comes the story of the global quest for skyscrapers in the 21st century.

In the 21st century, humanity has embarked on a skyscraper building spree of epic proportions. What is driving this global quest for skyscrapers and skylines? Ever Upwards chronicles the social, political, and economic forces driving cities to build higher and higher.

The book begins with the first skyscrapers in New York and Chicago, tracing not only the major technological innovations but also the drivers of demand and government responses. Along the way, Barr visits and unpacks some myths about the earliest skyscrapers. Next Barr traces the growth of American skylines after World War II, which incorporated a new suite of technologies that were exported to the rest of the globe starting in the 1990s.

Then Barr travels to London to explore why it banned skyscrapers at the end of the 19th century but then embraced them in the 21st. From there, Barr visits Hong Kong to chronicle how it created the densest cluster of skyscrapers on the planet. The next stop is mainland China to witness the dramatic result of China's "skyscraper fever." From there, Barr travels to the Arabian Peninsula to see what drove Dubai to build the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

In the last section, Barr offers a global view by synthesizing what has been learned about cities that have embraced skylines. It discusses their benefits to humanity and their discontents. The last chapter looks to the future to see whether cities around the world will continue their journey ever upwards.

Jason Barr is a professor of economics at Rutgers University-Newark. One of the world's foremost experts on the economics of skyscrapers, he is the author of Building the Skyline: The Birth and Growth of Manhattan Skyscrapers and has had is research featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Economist, and Architectural Review. A Long Island native, Barr received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University, his Ph.D. from Columbia University, and his MFA in creative writing from Emerson College in Boston, and he has also taught at Dartmouth College and Columbia University. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, StarTrek.com, Dezeen.com, and the Irish Independent. He currently writes the Skynomics Blog, a blog about skyscrapers, cities, and economics. His favorite skyscraper is the Empire State Building.