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Such Great Heights: Where Are the World’s Tallest Buildings?

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The Tallest Buildings on Every Continent 1200px

Such Great Heights: The World’s Tallest Buildings

It seems that humanity is always vying to exceed our past accomplishments, and nowhere is the evidence clearer than in the tallest buildings that make up our cities.

We’ve previously looked at how the architectural feats of humanity have simply grown in magnitude over time, tracing this progress as far back as the Stone Age.

The question now is, how much higher and further into the skies can we reach? This infographic by Alan’s Factory Outlet looks at the glittering urban skyscrapers on every continent. We also examine some interesting facts about each region.

Asia: Growing Ever Upwards

The first name on this list certainly needs no introduction. Dubai’s Burj Khalifa is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Middle East. With just a one minute elevator ride to the Burj Khalifa’s pinnacle, it must seem like even the sky is no longer the limit.

BuildingCity, CountryHeight# Floors
Burj Khalifa🇦🇪 Dubai, UAE828m / 2,715ft163
Shanghai Tower🇨🇳 Shanghai, China632m / 2,073ft128
Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel🇸🇦 Mecca, Saudi Arabia601m / 1,971ft120
Goldin Finance 117🇨🇳 Tianjin, China597m / 1,958ft128
Ping An Finance Center🇨🇳 Shenzhen, China592m / 1,965ft115

Ping An Finance Center from Shenzhen edges into fifth place on the list, and it’s worth mentioning the speed of change occurring in the city. China’s hi-tech capital will see the completed construction of approximately 51 buildings over 145m (476ft) by the end of 2020.

North America: Concrete Jungle

The One World Trade Center, built to memorialize the loss of the Twin Towers after September 11th, 2001, is also informally called the “Freedom Tower”. It’s exactly 1,776ft high—symbolizing the year the U.S. Declaration of Independence was adopted.

BuildingCity, CountryHeight# Floors
One World Trade Center🇺🇸 New York City, U.S.541m / 1,776ft104
Central Park Tower🇺🇸 New York City, U.S.472m / 1,550ft98
Willis Tower🇺🇸 Chicago, U.S.442.1m / 1,451ft110
111 West 57th Street🇺🇸 New York City, U.S.435m / 1,428ft82
One Vanderbilt🇺🇸 New York City, U.S.427m / 1,401ft67

While the Central Park Tower has reached its full height, parts of the interior are still undergoing construction. The price of luxury apartments in the complex start at $7 million for a two-bedroom, just in case you had any extra change lying around.

In fact, the illustrious New York City holds four of the top five buildings on the continent. However, a nod also goes to the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) in Chicago, an imposing office building which held the title of world’s tallest building for 25 years, until the Petronas Towers were erected in Kuala Lumpur.

Europe: Russia’s Reign

The top five tallest buildings in Europe can all be found in Russia. What’s more, those from Moscow are all clustered within a single towering business district known as “Moscow-City”.

BuildingCity, CountryHeight# Floors
Lakhta Center🇷🇺 Saint Petersburg, Russia462.5m / 1,517ft87
Federation Tower: East Tower🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia373.7m / 1,226ft101
OKO: South Tower🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia354.1m / 1,161ft85
Neva Tower 2🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia345m / 1,132ft79
Mercury City Tower🇷🇺 Moscow, Russia338.8m / 1,112ft75

This begs the question—why doesn’t Europe build more skyscrapers? There’s an interesting historical reasoning behind this. As North America’s new age ideals and influence on the world stage grew, European cultural values focused on preserving heritage.

Of course, with globalization, things have changed somewhat, and major financial centers of London, Paris and more boast unique skylines of their own.

Oceania: The Views Down Under

Australia’s buildings unsurprisingly dominate the tallest ones in the region. In the surfer’s paradise, Q1 on the Gold Coast has a twist in its design—literally. Its architecture is loosely based on studies of ribbons moving in the wind, as they wrap around the tower.

BuildingCity, CountryHeight# Floors
Q1🇦🇺 Gold Coast, Australia323m / 1,058 ft78
Australia 108🇦🇺 Melbourne, Australia316.7m / 1,039 ft100
Eureka Tower🇦🇺 Melbourne, Australia297m / 974.4ft91
Crown Sydney🇦🇺 Sydney, Australia271.3m / 889.1ft75
Aurora Melbourne Central🇦🇺 Melbourne, Australia270.5m / 889.1 ft92

The Eureka Tower has a fascinating story behind it, too. It’s named after the 1854 Victorian gold rush, with elements of the building reflecting this history—from a gold crown to a red stripe for revolutionary bloodshed.

South America: Views From the Top

The tallest buildings in South America are mainly residential, and often found in Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela—but Chile is the one standout exception to this rule.

BuildingCity, CountryHeight# Floors
Gran Torre Santiago🇨🇱 Santiago, Chile300m / 984ft62
Yachthouse Residence Club Towers 1 and 2🇧🇷 Balneário Camboriú, Brazil281m / 922ft81
Alvear Tower🇦🇷 Buenos Aires, Argentina239m / 784ft54
Infinity Coast🇧🇷 Balneário Camboriú, Brazil235m / 771ft66
Parque Central Complex: East Tower🇻🇪 Caracas, Venezuela225m / 738ft59

Gran Torre Santiago is a retail and office complex, and the largest shopping mall across Latin America. It’s often considered the heart of Chile, and built to hold its ground steadfastly in the earthquake-prone country.

Africa: Budding Buildings

Located in South Africa’s largest city, The Leonardo is the jewel of Johannesburg. The tallest building in Africa was also designed by an architectural team of mostly women.

BuildingCity, CountryHeight# Floors
The Leonardo🇿🇦 Johannesburg, South Africa234m / 768ft55
Carlton Center🇿🇦 Johannesburg, South Africa223m / 732ft50
Britam Tower🇰🇪 Nairobi, Kenya200m / 660ft31
Ponte City Apartments🇿🇦 Johannesburg, South Africa173m / 568ft54
UAP Tower🇰🇪 Nairobi, Kenya163m / 535 ft33

For African nations, these tallest buildings mean much more than just breaking engineering records. In a journal article, it’s posited that skyscrapers can act as a symbol of power and the continent’s drive towards modernity.

Future Superstar Skyscrapers

A few more mammoth buildings are expected to rise up in the next couple years. Saudi Arabia’s 167-floor Jeddah Tower, while currently on hold, could someday take over the first place crown.

Meanwhile, Dubai’s set to outdo itself—and compete directly with Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom Tower is inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and is proposed to break the 1 kilometer-high (or 0.6 mile) mark not yet achieved by any building.

Who knows what greater heights we could scale this century?

Each of us is carving a stone, erecting a column, or cutting a piece of stained glass in the construction of something much bigger than ourselves.

—Adrienne Clarkson, Former Governor General of Canada

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Politics

How Much Do Americans Trust the Media?

Media trust among Americans has reached its lowest point since Trump won the 2016 presidential election.

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How Much Do Americans Trust the Media?

Media trust among Americans has reached its lowest point in six years.

Gallup began its survey on media trust in 1972, repeating it in 1974 and 1976. After a long period, the public opinion firm restarted the polls in 1997 and has asked Americans about their confidence level in the mass media—newspapers, TV, and radio—almost every year since then.

The above graphic illustrates Gallup’s latest poll results, conducted in September 2023.

Americans’ Trust in Mass Media, 1972-2023

Americans’ confidence in the mass media has sharply declined over the last few decades.

Trust in the mass media% Great deal/Fair amount% Not very much% None at all
197268246
197469218
197672224
1997533115
199855359
1999553411
2000513712
2001533314
2002543511
2003543511
2004443916
2005503712
2007473517
2008433521
2009453718
2010433621
2011443619
2012403921
2013443322
2014403624
2015403624
2016324127
2017412929
2018453024
2019413028
2020402733
2021362934
2022342838
2023322939

In 2016, the number of respondents trusting media outlets fell below the tally of those who didn’t trust the media at all. This is the first time that has happened in the poll’s history.

That year was marked by sharp criticism of the media from then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.

In 2017, the use of the term ‘fake news’ rose by 365% on social media, and the term was named the word of the year by dictionary publisher Collins.

The Lack of Faith in Institutions and Social Media

Although there’s no single reason to explain the decline of trust in the traditional media, some studies point to potential drivers.

According to Michael Schudson, a sociologist and historian of the news media and a professor at the Columbia Journalism School, in the 1970s, faith in institutions like the White House or Congress began to decline, consequently impacting confidence in the media.

“That may have been a necessary corrective to a sense of complacency that had been creeping in—among the public and the news media—that allowed perhaps too much trust: we accepted President Eisenhower’s lies about the U-2 spy plane, President Kennedy’s lies about the ‘missile gap,’ President Johnson’s lies about the war in Vietnam, President Nixon’s lies about Watergate,”
Michael Schudson – Columbia Journalism School

More recently, the internet and social media have significantly changed how people consume media. The rise of platforms such as X/Twitter and Facebook have also disrupted the traditional media status quo.

Partisans’ Trust in Mass Media

Historically, Democrats have expressed more confidence in the media than Republicans.

Democrats’ trust, however, has fallen 12 points over the past year to 58%, compared with 11% among Republicans and 29% among independents.

How-Much-Do-Americans-Trust-the-Media

According to Gallup, Republicans’ low confidence in the media has little room to worsen, but Democrat confidence could still deteriorate and bring the overall national reading down further.

The poll also shows that young Democrats have less confidence in the media than older Democrats, while Republicans are less varied in their views by age group.

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