High-rise buildings dominate the skyline of modern cities around the world. But how do they affect urbanism and culture? Are they necessary to cities? Can they be made more formally engaging? In this fully-illustrated volume, some of architecture's leading thinkers and practitioners come together to examine the global phenomenon of the tall building. The contributors survey tall buildings around the world, such as the Dong Towers of Southern China, high-rise housing in Hong Kong, and the iconic buildings of Seidler and Ingenhoven in Australia.