[aaron38]

Tall buildings are expensive. Expensive to build, expensive to maintain. I know a person who moved out of a 5 story condo building because of what the annual elevator inspection cost. It wasn't worth it to him when he had other options available.
Tall buildings are a question of economics. We shouldn't root for them for their own sake, that's the wrong way to look at it. When tall buildings are built it's a sign of the economic supply/demand equation being balanced for a given area. It's a sign that the economy of that given area can support their higher cost and that housing is in demand.
The issue with North America is that wages are stagnant except at the very top, and there is lots of land. Until people who would like to move into the inner city can afford to do so, there will be little demand for tall buildings.