Urban forms: from networks to canopies and from measures to landscapes ; Les formes de la métropole : du réseau à la canopée, de la mesure au paysage ; Urban forms: from networks to canopies and from measures to landscapes: Towers, skyline and canopy ; Les formes de la métropole : du réseau à la canopée, de la mesure au paysage: Tours, skyline et canopée

With the SKYLINE (ANR) research programme, I led a group of researchers in exploring the landscape issues at stake in connection with towers, focusing attention on a particular dimension of the city landscape: the skyline. Because of their architectural characteristics and their prominence, towers become part of the material landscape at all levels. On the other hand, only they can be read and have an impact on the wider landscape in its volume. Sometimes, they act as symbols of a dynamic economy and/or urban renewal and translate into a political project (McNeill 2005; Appert 2008, 2011, 2012). As they are highly visible from far and near, they are among the most widely contested buildings at a time when the landscape is being remobilised both as a living environment, and to win over local populations when it comes to urban projects. In European cities, opposition to towers has become more organised and more widespread: London (Appert and Drozdz 2010), Paris (d’Aboville 2015), but also Seville, Vienna, Barcelona, Geneva and even Saint-Petersburg are affected (Dixon 2009). The first part of Volume 3 describes the resurgence of towers in Europe and elucidates the motivations behind this. The post-war boom years and adherence to urban and architectural modernism precipitated the first construction phase of skyscrapers, both in Eastern and Western Europe. Verticalization of the cities of the continent was brought about by the combined effect of real estate developers and large-scale planning projects by public authorities. The repeated economic crises in the 1970s and 1980s and the rise of heritage preservation aspirations diminished the desire for towers, which were rejected both by a sector of the population and city councils. The 1980’s and 1990’s saw an all-time low, with just a few exceptions.After this “fallow” period during which very few towers were built, European cities saw a renewed enthusiasm for this architectural and urban form. While the resurgence of skyscrapers has, to date, been somewhat timid in ...