A Decade After 9/11, Skyscrapers Still On The Rise

07:54

August 24, 2011

With World's tallest tower, Burj Khalifa in background, children play next to a mosque in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (AP)

Ten years after the attacks that brought down the Twin Towers in New York, cities around the world are building more--and much taller--skyscrapers.

In the last four years, work has begun on 25 "supertalls," skyscrapers as high, or higher than the Empire State building, according to the Skyscraper Museum in New York.

Architect Jamie von Klemperer told Here & Now's Sacha Pfeiffer that the buildings are not just a point of pride, but skyscrapers are also:

The most efficient use of space. In a two to three acre plot, a supertall can hold 10,000 working people, which can help save land for agriculture
The safest place to wait out an earthquake because they are designed to withstand Earth's natural forces
A hallmark of rising economies. Von Klemperer compares the current building boom in the Middle East and Asia to the birth of high rises in the U.S. between 1910 and 1930
The dramatic setting for films from"King Kong" to "James Bond"

Guest:

Jamie von Klemperer, architect for Kohn-Pedersen-Fox

This segment aired on August 24, 2011.