Why Are Skyscrapers so Tall? Land Use and the Spatial Location of Buildings in New York

Many major cities in the U.S. and throughout the world, including New York City, have areas where clusters of skyscrapers are present. Why do builders choose to build real estate with such height? And, how does the choice of height depend on characteristics of nearby buildings, demographics, and other spatial factors? Using a data set consisting of detailed information for 458 skyscrapers in New York City completed between 1895 and 2004, we investigate the factors that have determined building height. Our estimation strategy is to use geographically weighted regressions (GWR), which generates a separate parameter estimate for each data point. That is to say GWR gives specific coefficient estimates for each building, so that we can investigate how very local factors have driven building height. We find that the two different business districts (downtown and midtown) generally have different sized coefficient estimates for three important variables: plot size, distance to core and depth to bedrock. In addition we find some interesting coefficient differences within midtown in regard to plot size and distance to Grand Central Station. The widely-cited fact that bedrock depths influenced the skyline is not borne out by the results.