[the urban politician]

The whole direction skyscraper construction has turned, with Asian, Middle Eastern, and Canadian cities completely blowing away American ones with highrise construction in sheer volumes, gets me increasingly feeling that we are simply looking at things the wrong way.

Despite Chicago’s history, wealth, and iconic importance it can’t possibly keep up with these places, despite the fact that the highrise was co-invented here, and that for most of modern history it was one of the predominant skyscraper capitals.

But we will never win this volume game. We simply need to measure our success with a new type of yardstick. I don’t know what that is.

Old European capitals must’ve felt this way 100-150 years ago when looking at American boomtowns.