Lower Manhattan from Governors Island August 2017 panorama

A skyline is the outline or shape viewed near the

horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...

. It can be created by a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

’s overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land. City skylines serve as a pseudo- fingerprint as no two skylines are alike. For this reason, news and sports programs, television shows, and movies often display the skyline of a city to set a location. The term ''The Sky Line of New York City'' was first introduced in 1896, when it was the title of a color

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

by Charles Graham for the color supplement of the '' New York Journal''. Paul D. Spreiregen, FAIA, has called a ityskyline "a physical representation

f a city's F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...

facts of life ... a potential work of art ... its collective vista."

Features

High-rise buildings

High-rise building A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...

s, including

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

s, are the fundamental feature of urban skylines. Both contours and cladding (brick or glass) make an impact on the overall appearance of a skyline.

Towers

Towers from different eras make for contrasting skylines.

San Gimignano San Gimignano () is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of ...

, in Tuscany, Italy, has been described as having an "unforgettable skyline" with its competitively built towers.

Remote locations

Mount Everest as seen from Drukair2 PLW edit

Some remote locations have striking skylines, created either by nature or by sparse human settlement in an environment not conducive to housing significant populations.

Architectural design

Norman Foster served as architect for the Gherkin in London and the Hearst Tower in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...

, and these buildings have to added to their cities' skylines.

Use in media

Skylines are often used as backgrounds and establishing shots in film, television programs, news websites, and in other forms of media.

Subjective ranking

Several services rank skylines based on their own subjective criteria.

Emporis Emporis GmbH was a real estate data mining company that was headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. The company collected data and photographs of buildings worldwide, which were published in an online database from 2000 to September 2022. On 12 Sept ...

is one such service, which uses height and other data to give point values to buildings and add them together for skylines. The three cities it ranks highest are Hong Kong, Seoul and Shenzhen.

References

External links

{{Authority control Architectural terminology City Panoramic art Skyscrapers Cityscapes