Vanity and violence

Abstract

In this fourth and final paper in a series for City addressing the vertical politics of cities, Stephen Graham explores the politics of contemporary skyscrapers. Emphasising the changing geo-economics, geopolitics and political symbolism of skyscrapers, the paper critically interrogates their increasingly central contemporary role as purported signifiers and logos of ‘global’ cityness and seeks to underline the essential violence involved in their construction—and their demise. The discussion falls into three parts. The first contrasts the proliferation of elite-driven ‘super-tall’ skyscrapers as anchors of huge real-estate projects in the Gulf, Middle East and Asia with the historical ‘race’ between real estate, urban and corporate elites in North American downtowns to build skyscrapers which embodied highly masculinised notions of vertical corporate power. The second deconstructs the current construction of skyscrapers as ‘gigantic logos’ signifying wannabe or actual ‘global’ city status—promissory towers camouflaged behind specious greenwash, which anchor major nodes within intensely globalised circuits of leisure, tourism, finance, business and real-estate investment. The discussion turns, finally, to the role of the skyscraper as the detested symbol par excellence of the aggressively centripetal pull of the modern, secular, alpha-level global or world city. Exploring the central role of Western skyscraper architecture in motivating Al-Qaeda’s attacks on New York’s World Trade Center in 2011, the paper finishes by speculating on the connections linking the violence inherent in skyscraper construction with that which targets skyscrapers in terrorist violence.

Key words:

• skyscraper
• global city
• vanity
• violence
• verticality
• globalisation terrorism
• symbolism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 See http://www.aluminum.org/modern-skyscraper

2 Daniel Libeskind, in pushing through his designs for the ‘Freedom Tower’—later renamed ‘1 World Trade Center’—on the site of the World Trade Center towers, often talked of his new skyscraper as a way of restoring the ‘spiritual peak’ of New York. See Kamin (2010, 36).

3 Huriot (2012).

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Currently, ‘super-tall’ skyscraper projects in Azerbaijan, China and Qatar are at various stages of development in the struggle to top Dubai’s Burj Khalifa’s current record of 830 m. They may even surpass the eventual 1080m height of Jeddah’s Kingdom Tower. See Ong (2011).

7 Fully160 floors of the Kingdom Tower’s total of 200 will be used for apartments, hotels and viewing platforms; the tower’s largest penthouse will have its own private exterior gardens 3000 ft up in the air.

8 Architecture and Design, ‘World’s Next Tallest Tower—Being Built by Bin Ladens,’ August 5, 2011, http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/industry-news/world-s-next-tallest-tower-being-built-by-bin-lade

9 P. Clift, ‘Walkie Talkie would Become Loved Symbol of London,’ EGI News, March 8, 2007. Instead, this execrable building has merely generated anger, bewilderment and satire. Indeed, in 2015, it was ‘awarded’ the ‘carbuncle cup’ for the UK’s worst new building of that year.

10 The Independent, ‘Architecture: The Sky’s the Limit,’ February 11, 12, 2008.

11 Battlefield 4 discussion forum, ‘Wouldn’t (a part of) Dubai be a GREAT Map for BF4?,’ 2013, http://www.reddit.com/r/battlefield_4/comments/1g83ob/wouldnt_a_part_of_dubai_be_a_great_map_for_bf4/originalemphasis

12 The term from the Ku’ran for non-believers or infidels, see Daniel Brook, ‘The Architect of 9/11,’ Slate.com, September 10, 2009.

13 Brook, ‘The Architect of 9/11,’ Slate.com, September 10, 2009.

14 As well as being highly symbolic, prestige targets, skyscrapers were also relatively easy to see from the air amidst the complex landscapes of cities. See Terry McDermott (2005, 167).

15 Osama Bin Laden, Untitled speech. Doha, Qatar: Al Jazeera TV (October 7, 2001).

16 See Verushti Mawami, ‘Kingdom Tower by Bin Laden Group will be the World’s Tallest Building,’ Industry Leaders Magazine, August 5, 2011, http://www.industryleadersmagazine.com/kingdom-tower-by-bin-laden-group-will-be-the-worlds-tallest-building/

17 It must be stressed here that there is no evidence that Atta and his colleagues had any way of predicting, let alone planning, the final collapse of the buildings once struck by the two aircraft.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen Graham

Stephen Graham is Professor of Cities and Society at the Global Urban Research Unit and is based in Newcastle University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape.