The world's top 20 city skylines

Here's a look at 20 of the most spectacular cityscapes around the planet

By Winnie So 28 July, 2010

New York skyline

Where will NYC rank on our list? Click "View Gallery" to find out.

20. Brasilia

Icons: (National Congress) 1 point. Height: 0 points. Beauty: 2 points. Total: 3 points -- Oscar Niemeyer certainly made his mark on this city. The Ministries Esplanade contains his beautiful Cathedral of Brasilia, National Museum and National Library. The building that defines the skyline, however, is his National Congress building that looks like two flying saucers parked next to two gray slabs.

19. Cape Town

Icons: (Table Mountain) 1 point. Height: 0 points. Beauty: 3 points + 1 Bonus = Total: 5 points -- No points for height, but we couldn’t resist including Cape Town’s Victoria & Albert Waterfront with its imposing, flat-topped Table Mountain.

18. Cairo

Icons: (Pyramids) 1 point. Height: (ranked no. 75 with 1,155 points) 4 points. Beauty: 1 point = Total: 6 points -- Cairo would not make it on this list were it not for the fact that the ancient pyramids of Giza were such marvels of ancient engineering that they were built tall enough (nearly 139 meters) to be seen within the city.

17. St Louis

Icons: (Gateway Arch) 1 point. Height: 0 points Beauty: 6 points = Total: 7 points -- Eero Saarinen’s bold Gateway Arch looks like half of a gigantic McDonald’s arch suspended over the city. It is certainly the most unusual of skylines.

16. Jerusalem

Icons: (Dome of the Rock) 1 point. Height: 0 points. Beauty: 6 points = Total: 7 points -- The Islamic world’s oldest building, completed in 692, sits on top of Temple Mount. Its shiny golden dome is covered in 80 kilograms of gold.

15. Istanbul

Icons: (Hagia Sophia and Sultan Ahmed) 2 points. Height: 0 points. Beauty: 6 points = Total: 8 points -- The minarets and domes of Istanbul’s two important mosques (Hagia Sophia became a museum in 1935) dominate the city like a pair of crowns that evoke visions of the city’s former grandeur as the seat of the Ottoman Empire.

14. Washington D.C.

Icons: (Washington Monument) 1 point. Height: 0 points. Beauty: 7 points = 8 points -- The capital city does not make a statement with flashy skyscrapers, just one very tall obelisk that resolutely points towards the sky like a beacon of light. The skyline shows the elegant restraint of an elderly grande dame.

13. Moscow

Icons: (Saint Basil’s Cathedral) 1 point. Height: 4 points. Beauty: 5 points = Total: 10 points -- As beauty goes, St Petersburg would be the prettier of the sisters. But Moscow makes up for it with a distinctively Russian character in its onion-domed cathedrals and the imposing Kremlin.

12. Santorini

Icons: (blue-domed church in Imerovigli) 1 point. Height: 0 points. Beauty: 9 points = Total: 10 points -- Not exactly the conventional city skyline, but the white-washed buildings built into the steep cliff-face of Santorini, rising above the Aegean Sea, are as captivating as a Siren’s call.

11. Seattle

Icons: (Space Needle) 1 point. Height: 3 points. Beauty: 6 points = Total: 10 points -- Although the Space Needle looks like a flying saucer parked atop a stand, somehow it sits comfortably amidst Seattle’s other skyscrapers.

10. Dubai

Icons: (Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab) 2 points. Height: 5 points. Beauty: 4 points = Total: 11 points -- The sail-like Burj Al Arab used to be the calling card for Dubai. Now, world’s tallest Burj Khalifa at 2,717 feet, which opened early this year, will surely come to dominate our image of Dubai.

9. Kuala Lumpur

Icons: (Petronas Towers) 1 point. Height: 5 points. Beauty: 5 points = Total: 11 points -- By night, the Petronas Towers sparkle against the sky as though they were a pair of chandelier earrings dangling over Kuala Lumpur.

8. Shanghai

Icons: (Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center) 2 points. Height: 5 points. Beauty: 5 points = Total: 12 points -- The more iconic side of Shanghai’s skyline is on the Pudong side of Shanghai. The Oriental Pearl TV Tower looks like something out of a dated sci-fi film. The Shanghai World Financial Center is evocative of the black monolith from Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

7. London

Icons: (Big Ben and London Eye) 2 points. Height: 4 points. Beauty: 7 points = Total: 13 points -- To imagine the magic of flying over London, you need only watch Harry Potter. There is something almost intriguingly timeless about Big Ben standing sentry on the banks of the Thames marking the passing of time for more than a century and a half.

6. Sydney

Icons: (Sydney Opera House) 1 point. Height: 4 points. Beauty: 7 points + 1 bonus = Total: 13 points -- Sydney’s skyline is dominated by the white sails of the Sydney Opera House rising majestically above a calm Sydney Harbour. It can also look like a lotus in full bloom.

5. San Francisco

Icons: (Transamerica) 1 point. Height: 4 points. Beauty: 7 points + 1 bonus = Total: 13 points -- A slim pyramid rises above San Francisco’s skyline. In many ways, the brick-red Golden Gate Bridge, which from certain vantage points can be seen hovering above the city’s skyline atop the blue Pacific Ocean, is also an integral part of the cityscape.

4. Chicago

Icons: (Sears) 1 point. Height: 5 points. Beauty: 7 points + 1 bonus = Total: 14 points -- Willis Tower remains the tallest building in the United States. The building towers over the rest of the Chicago skyline that rises above Lake Michigan. The fire-engine red CAN building adds a bold dash of color to the skyline during the day.

3. Paris

Icons: (Eiffel Tower) 1 point. Height: 4 points. Beauty: 9 points + 1 bonus = Total: 15 points --

2. New York City

Icons: (Empire State, Chrysler) 2 points. Height: 5 points. Beauty: 8 points = Total: 16 points -- The view coming in from Queens and Brooklyn, with the Empire State jutting up from the left and Chrysler building on the right, forming goal posts of a sort, is spectacular. While Manhattan does not benefit much from its natural surroundings, its planner-imposed grid system renders order.

1. Hong Kong

Icons: (Bank of China, IFC2) 2 points. Height: 5 points. Beauty: 10 points = Total: 17 - Hong Kong makes the picture-perfect two-dimensional skyline, day and night. The lines of three iconic buildings in Central are superimposed against the majestic Peak in the background. Other skyscrapers cascade down the slope of the mountain like a chorus line behind its stars. At night, the skyline lights up.

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If you're a regular CNNGo reader you'll know we love the inner workings of city life. Rowdy food courts, thumping nightclubs, a tranquil art gallery... these things are the lifeblood of any major metropolis. But sometimes you have to step back to appreciate things from afar. We've put together 20 of what we think are the most beautiful city skylines in the world. Some of humanity's most impressive engineering triumphs can be seen here, and with their fellow buildings create an effect that is aesthetically on a par with anything nature has to offer, we think.

Of course, lists are subjective. But at CNNGo we try to make subjectivity a science. For this list of the world’s Top 20 Skylines, we used the following criteria:

Iconic: A skyline is a city’s profile view. It is made iconic by one or two stand-out pieces of architecture. But a skyline is not just a single structure; it is how these iconic structures are set in the context of the rest of the city to create a recognizable silhouette against the sky, creating the picture-perfect vista. A point is awarded for each iconic piece of architecture. Bridges were not counted, but may score under Beauty.

Height: Size may not be everything, but it does impress. You only have to look at the continual battle being fought globally by cities for the title of world’s tallest building. For this, I’ve used Egbert Gramsbergen and Paul Kazmierczak’s The World’s Best Skylines list, which ranks skylines by the sum height of all buildings taller than 90 meters. A five-point scale is used here, with points awarded according to where the city ranks among the 100. No points are awarded if the city does not appear on the list.

Beauty: It’s no surprise that water features prominently among the cities on this list. Cities naturally form around rivers and coasts and those that are built against this backdrop have a natural advantage. But nature can also be transplanted into an urban setting. Think of the skyline shaped by lower Manhattan’s High Line. Beauty is also a city’s ability to continuously strike a balance between old and new, its history and its future, its capacity to reinvent itself allowing it to be at once timeless and relevant. Beauty also provides a wonderful backdrop to its inhabitants’ lifestyle. A maximum of 10 points awarded here, with a bonus point awarded if the city appears on Forbes’ list of World’s Most Beautiful Cities.

Click on the image above to see the world's top 20 skylines

When she’s not working, playing, blogging, tweeting, facebooking or twining (she’s always looking for social enterprises to add to her Goodwill Shopping twine), Winnie works on her book, No Clue Yet, a journey through the realms of philosophy, psychology, cognitive and affective neuroscience, spirituality and whatever inspires her to ponder the question: What does it mean to be human and happy?

User Comments and Reviews

adscott

28 September, 2010

Sorry, and maybe I'm a little biased being Canadian - but this article stinks! How can you exclude the skylines of Toronto and Vancouver but include St. Louis, KL, Seattle and Cairo (among others)?!? Ok Cairo has pyramids, but it's an ugly city covered in smog... KL has the Petronas towers - but that's it! St. Louis has the arch - but come on!

Toronto has a beautiful skyline which includes the CN Tower, Skydome, and a plethora of excellent modern architecture on the water - arguably it's even more beautiful than it's closest US relative - and admittedly a beautiful city in it's own right, Chicago.

Vancouver has the modern skyline, the waters edge, and the mountains in the background...

Clearly the author hasn't travelled much... sorry, but it's the only conclusion I can get to based on this article and choice of cities...

Unbelievable! ;-)

NYU05

06 August, 2010

I too am happy Istanbul made the list. Istanbul is really emerging into quite a city. I visited just recently and it's come a long way. It's always been historic, but now you see mosques and old buildings situated next to newly built skyscrapers. The bosphorous itself is also amazing. A lot of great cities are on that list.

imajination

30 July, 2010

Love this article! I am particularly glad that Istanbul made the list as it often gets overlooked. Hong Kong being #1 is hard to argue - quite spectacular watching the evening fireworks display. I am surprised that Rio de Janeiro didn't make the cut, especially if Cape Town did. Biggest overlook is Chongqing, China. It's like Manhattan on Las Vegas steroids.....you seriously need to add it to your list.
Home town is Dallas, Texas which has a quite nice skyline itself these days.

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