Skylines Rankings, World & U.S.
 

Skylines can be ranked in many ways. Beauty, number of buildings above a certain height, etc, number of super talls, etc.

In the U.S. I would rank the top 15 (based on numbers & height, not beauty necessarily):

1. NYC
2. Chicago
3-6. Houston, L.A., S.F, Miami tied
7. Dallas
8. Philadelphia
9. Atlanta
10. Seattle
11. Boston
12. Minneapolis
13. Las Vegas
14. Pittsburgh
15. Denver

In the world, of course Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, London, Moscow, Kuala Lampor, Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto etc. would be in the rankings. Did I leave any off the list? Love to see other opinions, including beauty ranks. Beautiful & tall are not the same. Vancouver and San Diego, for example, are beautiful skylines but are not all that tall.

My top 10 for U.S.: (For beauty)

1) NYC
2) San Francisco
3) Chicago
4) Seattle
5) Miami
6) Boston
7) Philadelphia
8) Dallas
9) Honolulu
10) Los Angeles

My top 10 for Asia: (For beauty)

1) Shanghai
2) Hong Kong
3) Shenzhen
4) Tokyo
5) Chongqing
6) Singapore
7) Doha
8) Beijing
9) Tehran (I actually think it looks cool, with the mountains).
10) Sheyang

These are all IMO, and are not to be taken as fact.


I'm a big fan of Asian cities. Chongqing and Shenzhen. :slob:

Finally, a skyline ranking thread!

Good list of cities, just to critique it I would eliminate your tied list and shuffle those cities around a bit.

I would eliminate Pittsburgh and Las Vegas and replace with San Diego and Charlotte somewhere on the list.

I'd also move Boston up to a top 6 spot and knock Atlanta below Seattle.

Canada

1. Toronto
2. Montreal
3. Edmonton
4. Vancouver
5. Hamilton

USA

1. LA
2. NY
3. Pittsburgh
4. Chicago
5. San Francisco

Everywhere Else

1. Shanghai
2. Hong Kong
3. Dubai
4. Tokyo
5. London

Shanghai would probably be my overall #1.

For North America , I'm also a sucker for pre war (Art Decco). Anything you may see King Kong climb up circa 1936.

North America

NYC
Chicago
Toronto
Montreal (eclectic factor)
San Francisco
Philadelphia
Detroit
Houston
Calgary (Points for a great skyline for being a fairly small metro)


The Rest

Shanghai
Hong Kong
Tokyo
Sao Paulo
Sydney
Dubai

How do people leave Seattle out of these lists!?

It would rank higher for me if not for the Space Needle. It really stands out in a bad way. Otherwise Seattle has a great skyline.

Wow, this thread brings me back to 2003, when the majority of my forum experience revolved around me making completely random lists ranking cities on completely random criteria and posting them confidently as if people actually gave a shit what my thoughts were on the subject.

USA only:

1. Skyline Drive, VA
2. Skyline Caverns, VA
3. Skyline Mountain Resort, UT
4. Skyline Trail, WA
5. Skyline Tavern, OR
6. Skyline Construction, CA
7. Capitol Skyline Hotel, DC
8. Skyline Lanes, MN
9. Skyline Park, GA
10. Skyline Chili, OH

My Global Top 20

01. New York
02. Shanghai
03. Hong Kong
04. Chicago
05. Guangzhou
06. Toronto
07. Dubai
08. Kuala Lumpur
09. Shenzhen
10. Chongqing

11. Tokyo
12. Melbourne
13. Beijing
14. Singapore
15. Panama City
16. Bangkok
17. Tianjin
18. Manila
19. Moscow
20. Jakarta

Oh look what we have here. You must be the fun guy at a party. Apparently you gave a shit by writing this silly post to a thread you don't give a shit about. Go away, please.

L.A. over NYC & Chicago in U.S.--REALLY? NYC is King. LA might be #3 (at best), but Houston & SF & Miami (Miami has huge # of condo towers) are right there with L.A. so I have them tied. In Canada, Calgary should be on the list, right behind Toronto, Vancouver & Montreal. Calgary skyline is very impressive.

Other notable skylines in U.S. just below the top 15: Charlotte, Cleveland, Cincinatti, Columbus, Detroit, Nashville, Tampa, Kansas City, San Diego (ranks high in beauty but height is restricted to 500'), Portland, Indianapolis, St. Louis, New Orleans.

An objective skyline ranking sytem?
 

How about these?

Method 1: Add the total height of buildings over 100 meters in a city would be one way.

Method 2: I think a better way imho is to give progressively more weight to buildings over certain heights. For example, assign a rank of 1 for buildings between 100-200 meters, a rank of 5 for 200-300 meters, a rank of 10 for 300-400 meters, a rank of 15 for those between 400-500 meters, and a 20 for those over 500 meters. Add numbers of buildings of each rank in the city. Voila!

The second method favors cities with more supertalls, but a city with large numbers of lower buildings under 300 meters (like Miami, for example) could also rank highly.

Anybody have a more objective system?

Cool list guys, however I don't think I saw Austin mentioned and Oklahoma City-for smaller cities there's Des Moines, Omaha and Tulsa. Heck if Sacramento would get its act together it could make the list as well.

Oh I didn't know I wasn't entitled to an opinion. Sorry!

I judge based solely on the visual beauty regardless of height or quantity. Is that allowed? You like height and quantity. I do too, but not at the expense of overall beauty.

I love LA's skyline for no other reason than it looks really cool. Buildings are distinct and have space between each other, putting each one on display in all their glory. Same thing with London and Montreal.

Calgary, while it has size, looks boring. The city around it is dull too. I'd rather look at Quebec City or Hamilton.

Or we could all just have our own opinion with no basis other than we like it. Sounds a lot more fun than just a copy paste list of the biggest and baddest.

1. Lake Charles, LA
2. Waco, TX
3. South Bend, IN
4. Bartlesville, OK
5. New York City, NY

Ranked by a composite of beauty, height, and density, of cities I have been to:

North America
1) San Francisco
2) New York City
3) Chicago
4) Seattle
5) Vancouver
6) Miami
7) Philadelphia
8) Boston
9) San Diego
10) Los Angeles

Asia
1) Hong Kong
2) Singapore
3) Tokyo
4) Taipei
5) Seoul

Top 15 World
1. Hong Kong China
2. New York USA
3. Shanghai China
4. Chicago USA
5. Guangzhou China
6. Shenzhen China
7. Tokyo Japan
8. Bangkok Thailand
9. Toronto Canada
10. Chongqing China
11. Tianjin China
12. Manila Philippines
13. Dalian China
14. Nanjing China
15. Singapore Singapore

Top 30 USA and Canada
1. New York
2. Chicago
3. Toronto
4. Houston
5. Los Angeles
6. Philadelphia
7. Vancouver
8. San Francisco
9. Miami
10. Seattle
11. Minneapolis
12. Calgary
13. Dallas
14. Montreal
15. Boston
16. Pittsburgh
17. Atlanta
18. Denver
19. Detroit
20. Charlotte
21. Kansas City
22. Edmonton
23. Cincinnati
24. San Diego
25. Las Vegas
26. Cleveland
27. Austin
28. Baltimore
29. Tampa
30. St. Louis