Article
September 22, 2026
Future-proof skyline: How to design for long-term urban value
Whether you’re in London or Singapore, future-proofing the skyline demands a shift in mindset. Rather than asking how a building performs in isolation, we explore how it could contribute to the city – even before construction decisions are locked in.
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Frank Schwartz
Global Spearhead Director, High-rise & Complex Buildings
Tall buildings are sometimes the best answer to urban growth. Built in the right places, they concentrate density around existing transport infrastructure and reduce pressure on undeveloped land. These benefits depend on how a building is designed, how it performs over its lifetime and how well it integrates with the city around it. Yet many tall buildings fail to deliver their full potential. They perform well as individual assets, but less well as part of the wider urban system.
Too often, buildings are optimised for height, construction speed, financial returns, or visual impact, while questions of long-term performance, adaptability to a changing climate, and the quality of the surrounding urban environment are considered too late. By then, opportunities are constrained and key decisions are already locked in.
Tall buildings need to do more than meet today's requirements to become resilient infrastructure: they must remain adaptable, connected and valuable as cities, technologies, and expectations change.
For the developers, architects, engineers, and public authorities shaping the next generation of high-rises, this means designing for change from the beginning. It means prioritising refurbishment and reuse where possible, allowing buildings to adapt to changing needs, and considering each development as part of the wider district rather than as a standalone asset.
70% by 2050
Projected share of people living in cities, up from 56% today. Between 2024 and 2050 the share of the urban population is expected to increase from 56% today to around 70%, with the number of urban inhabitants increasing by around 1.8 billion. (Source: IEA)
Half
Of the buildings that will exist in 2050 are still to be built or renovated, so today's decisions lock in decades of performance. With half of the buildings that will exist in 2050 still yet to be built or renovated, the choices made today will shape emissions, energy use and quality of life for generations. (Source: UNEP and GlobalABC, 2025–2026)
70% by 2050
Projected share of people living in cities, up from 56% today. Between 2024 and 2050 the share of the urban population is expected to increase from 56% today to around 70%, with the number of urban inhabitants increasing by around 1.8 billion. (Source: IEA)
Half
Of the buildings that will exist in 2050 are still to be built or renovated, so today's decisions lock in decades of performance. With half of the buildings that will exist in 2050 still yet to be built or renovated, the choices made today will shape emissions, energy use and quality of life for generations. (Source: UNEP and GlobalABC, 2025–2026)
Going beyond height and redefining what makes a successful high-rise
Height will always be part of the high-rise conversation. Tall buildings push technical boundaries and enable cities to grow more compactly. But height alone should never be a measure of success.
The right questions are: How well will it integrate with its surroundings? How efficiently will it perform over its lifetime? How easily can it adapt as needs change?
2 Finsbury Avenue demonstrates the value of asking these questions early. By aligning structural and services engineering with architectural intent from the outset, the 38-storey London development balanced height with flexibility, efficiency, and long-term performance. The result was a building designed not only to meet today's requirements but to remain commercially relevant well into the future.
Tall buildings can reinforce the city system they belong to, or they can undermine it. The question is no longer how tall a building can be, but how long it will remain relevant, efficient and valuable. Tall buildings fail when ambition is measured in metres rather than decades.
Global Director, High-rise & Complex Buildings, Ramboll
Design high-rises for change in an uncertain future
Climate conditions are becoming less predictable, regulations continue to evolve, and expectations of how buildings are used are constantly shifting. Designing for a single, fixed future is no longer realistic.
Future-ready high-rises are designed for change. Structural systems, layouts, and building services should enable buildings to evolve through refurbishment, system upgrades, or changing uses throughout their lifespan.
This is equally true for existing buildings. Many high-rise buildings constructed decades ago remain structurally sound but no longer meet today's performance expectations. Refurbishment and adaptive reuse can extend asset life spans, preserve embodied carbon, and unlock new commercial value without demolition.
Developments such as King’s Cross in London, show how this thinking creates resilience beyond individual buildings. Regeneration has combined new commercial space with homes, schools, public squares, parks, heritage buildings and a district energy network, creating a neighbourhood designed to evolve rather than stand still.
Meanwhile, 21 Carpenter in Singapore demonstrates that even relatively modest developments can strengthen the surrounding urban fabric when they are conceived as part of a wider place rather than as standalone assets.
Buildings become obsolete because of design decisions made too early—and questioned too late.
Global Director, High-rise & Complex Buildings, Ramboll
The decisions that shape a building's performance over the next 50 years are made before construction begins. Developers, architects, engineers and public authorities must collaborate around long-term outcomes, not short-term optimisation, so tall buildings become part of the city's fabric.
Designing for resilience at city scale
Resilience in tall buildings is often framed in technical terms. While structural safety is fundamental, true resilience extends beyond the building itself - its success is ultimately measured at city scale.
Well-designed tall buildings do more than withstand change. They help cities respond to a changing climate, support active travel, improve access to public transport, create better public spaces and enable communities to thrive. Density becomes valuable when it strengthens the wider urban system.
Punggol Digital District in Singapore demonstrates this approach. Rather than designing individual buildings first, the district was planned as an integrated ecosystem where workplaces, education, transport, public space, and digital infrastructure work together. District cooling, renewable energy, biodiversity corridors, and smart mobility all contribute to lower emissions, greater resilience, and a higher quality of urban life.
The lesson is not unique to Singapore. Whether in London, Copenhagen, or Singapore, developments perform best when buildings, infrastructure, and the public realm are planned together from the outset.
The most successful high-rise cities are not defined by extremes of height, but by how well tall buildings connect with the spaces between them. That is what enables density to work for people and, infrastructure alike.
Image gallery
Image gallery
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2 Finsbury Avenue
3XN
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King's Cross
3 / 4
Punggol Digital District
Finbarr Fallon
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21 Carpenter
Finbarr Fallon
2 Finsbury Avenue
3XN
King's Cross
Punggol Digital District
Finbarr Fallon
21 Carpenter
Finbarr Fallon
1 / 4
2 Finsbury Avenue
3XN
Contact our expert
Global Spearhead Director, High-rise & Complex Buildings
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