If you have been watching Ade Adepitan’s BBC 2 series Climate Change: Ade on the Front Line, you might have been struck by how many major cities around the world are dominated by tall buildings. Towers are now so ubiquitous (and so similar) that it is rarely possible to guess from an image where you are in the world. 

The clues are now in the topography and what is left of any planting, not in the patterns of development, the style, form or materiality of the buildings. Copenhagen was a refreshing exception.

It has all happened very quickly, and in most cities, residential towers now outnumber commercial towers. While tall buildings have a place, they are not very good at making places and, like bad neighbours, they rarely speak to each other.

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