Journal of Built Environment, Technology and Engineering, Vol. 3 (September) 2017 ISSN 0128-1003 ASSET MANAGEMENT REVIEW OF TALL RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN MAJOR CITIES: CHICAGO, HONG KONG AND SINGAPORE Raymond Cheng Email:
[email protected] Reader, Industrial Doctorate (IndD) Programme, Asia e University, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA Ivan Ng Email:
[email protected] Executive Director, Russia Capital Investment Corporation Limited, HONG KONG ABSTRACT There is only one residential skyscraper within China’s top 100 tallest buildings in the crowded 24-million- population city of Shanghai, China (and eleven residential skyscrapers among the 134 tallest buildings, i.e. those taller than 150 metres), whereas there are comparatively a lot more skyscrapers used for residential purposes in equally densely populated cities like Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and, of course, Chicago and New York. This paper, hence, looked, from a historical perspective, how the development of tall buildings in Chicago, Hong Kong and Singapore have evolved to become what we see today. How does the tall building development history of a city help forge the people’s view in terms of living in skyscrapers? Would such help provide explanations and hints as to the future development of skyscrapers in the other cities like Shanghai? Keywords: Tall building, skyscraper, high-rise, development history Learning from the American experience The mythical story of the Tower of Babel tells us that how height, in itself, since the beginning of known history, means power to human beings. But before Elisha Otis revolutionized and refined the safety of the elevator by inventing the elevator brakes1 in 1852, both the Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse and King Louis XV of France could only have envisioned their great ideas through primitive, man-powered, inefficient mechanical lifting devices back in their days.