The Rise of the Super-Tall Skyscraper

I'm often boggled by the rate of development in Toronto and the height of some of the new office and condo towers, some of which are now topping out at over 300 metres. But Toronto has yet to see anything like the super-tall skyscrapers that are now rising in New York, many along the edge of Central Park.

The Guardian has a long article about the new developments in New York and how they are affecting the city. It's a good article and if you're into architecture, they've included lots of links to interesting tidbits.

Any visitor to New York over the past few years will have witnessed this curious new breed of pencil-thin tower. Poking up above the Manhattan skyline like etiolated beanpoles, they seem to defy the laws of both gravity and commercial sense. They stand like naked elevator shafts awaiting their floors, raw extrusions of capital piled up until it hits the clouds.
These towers are not only the product of advances in construction technology – and a global surfeit of super-rich buyers – but a zoning policy that allows a developer to acquire unused airspace nearby, add it to their own lot, and erect a vast structure without any kind of public review process taking place. The face of New York is changing at a rate not seen for decades, and the deals that are driving it are all happening behind closed doors.