High-Rise Buildings Are Solution For The Ever-Increasing Number Of Population In Major Cities

With the never-ending population of the country, cities are on a rise and thus the way we manage the growth of our buildings is critical to the global economic and social development.

Tall buildings throw a challenge to the environment but are they really a solution? With the urbanization touching heights, the construction of high-rise buildings is also on a roll, particularly if you start mentioning the uplifting economies. But why do we need tall buildings especially in the densely populated areas of the world? It is simply because of the lack of space which is highly prevalent in residential developments as well.

The population is pushing its way through and thus the emergence of high-rise buildings is now increasing heavily. Earlier it was restricted to only financial and business sectors but with the city-dwellers increasing in number, it is slowly becoming a necessity!

Imagine that more than one million people on our planet are spreading across to cities every week. But is that the only aspect? No, the hunger for the growth of such buildings is also because of competition. Every builder and every owner wants his constructions to be out there and serve as an icon among the major landmarks within the city.

Did you know that there are already more than 4 million high-rise buildings who have made left their mark on the world and some 3.5 million proposals have already been made! They are certainly going to rule over the world very soon. And who are these countries who have made these gigantic building proposals?

It is New York on the top with proposals of buildings higher than 150 meters and then following its footsteps are Toronto, Dubai, Miami, London, Melbourne, and Chicago. The year 2017 was a milestone were one witnessed building constructions higher than 200 meters.

This leaves one wondering if such high rise building projects actually get completed Well, 2017 saw the success of about 144 of them. The best part is that the journey of high-rise buildings had started in 2013 and now the number of buildings made actually double in number: from 74 to 144. Tall buildings definitely would thank the year 2017 as it proved to be the luckiest with the most number of accomplished constructions in about 69 cities across 23 countries. Aren’t skyscrapers an amazing sight to see? China is still the king in that case and represents about 53% of the total and the United States follows suit. London has seen the dream of building 455 more towers with his focal points resting on Canary Wharf and the Docklands. Soon enough, we have to keep arching our necks to catch a view of the magnificent colossal building all around us!

What is the difference between lower-density buildings and high-density buildings? Of course, the higher density ones save more space and allow more occupants to easily fit in! And come on, someone has to think economically as well!

Taking a smaller plot of land and setting up a taller towering building is more affordable than buying widespread terrains of land and building a couple of accommodations there. It is nevertheless a shame when people destroy farming areas and green land for the building of houses and disrupt the families of poor people. If you see it that way, then tall buildings will allow you a variety of options without any kind of hassle! You can convert it into an office space, a
cute little bakery of your own or a residential complex as well.

In fact, they are designed in such a manner that mixed structures are invariably used and housing, fitness, lifestyle amenities, apartments, cultural amenities, hotel rooms, retail as well as event spaces: all can be well-taken care if without any second thought. A sense of community is also introduced among the people with the amenity of pedestrian street traffic which is a plus point for local businesses.

Also, it is a boon for the environment because when it comes to heating, cooling and waste management: these processes minimize cost as compared to lowrise buildings and managing them across a smaller area is easier and you travel also lesser.

So, why not? Now coming to yet another aspect. There are two sides to every coin and hence every story. If all these modern facilities are proving to be good for the rising population, they also present challenges like safety, security, and management of energy.

Since the buildings will be gigantic, a plethora of problems might arise at the same time for a lot of people and managing it all might serve as a major hurdle or setback. You have to give priority to everybody and ensure the safety of each one with relevant security measures.

Be it an intrusion, an attack or fire, the root cause of the crisis has to be identified and then the situation has to be taken care of calmly and with a rational mind. When the height of the buildings is way above the grounds, in case of a fire, do you think that the conventional evacuation methods or approaches shall work? With an unusually large population, definitely no!

A phased evacuation process has to be taken into consideration as a limited flight of steps shall be an impractical approach. The phased approach means, first giving priority to those people who are at greater risk and are most affected by the phenomenon and then saving the rest of the occupants, a few floors at a time. From an increasing to decreasing order of risk. For highrise buildings, fire rescue teams operating from outside shall be impossible.

This puts pressure on internal life safety systems as this is a test for them: as to how reliable and resilient they are! Now steps in our friend, technology. A friend in need is a friend indeed. So, it can play a good partner in managing the challenges posed by these multipurpose buildings.

Do you think it is physically possible to assess any troublesome situation in these highrise buildings? So technology shall help in centralizing command and creating control platforms for the management of critical situations. Building managers are taken into confidence and then with the press of a few buttons, the software automatically sets into motion and will progress within seconds to take the appropriate action and distributes essential information across several agencies.

If multiple technologies are combined together into one platform, they shall build up situational awareness as well as improve “cause and effect”, lend a hand in circulating information as well as coordinating responses both internally and externally by the management of all kinds of resources. In this manner, a lot of damage can be minimized and avoided.

So, high-rise buildings can definitely be welcomed with open hands.