ABSTRACT
Because tall buildings often make money while landscapes rarely, if ever, do, the success of a city’s public spaces is often directly linked to successful tall buildings. However, from the perspective of the quality of urban life, tall buildings are only as “good” as the public realm spaces that they enable. Whether these spaces are traditional plazas or green parks, or elements that contribute to human interaction and health in newer ways (such as the “sky lobbies” of Asia’s super-tall buildings, or the resurrection of the World Trade Center site), their relationship with buildings of any scale cannot be ignored. While an architect may focus narrowly on the iconic or aesthetic quality of a tall building as its own object, the urban designer or landscape architect views them as a source of users (social fabric) and of funding (financial health) for the urban environment.
