The Psychological Skyline

Virtually all of us have read articles or have seen the likes of Dateline or 60 Minutes run pieces on how taller men often have an edge over shorter ones in being in powerful positons. And how shorter men in positons of power often display a Napolean complex.

Is it sad those distinctions exist? Of course. But that doesn't change the fact that people's perceptions often run in those directions.

It probably does have to do with the way that we are wired.

Do those very distinctions between tall and short extend to the skylines of our cities and how we view those cities?

When a skyline goes to super heights, does it convey a power to a city that wouldn't exist if the skyline were shorter? Does a tall skyline invite not only other tall buildings, but a more fertile ground for development and cultural/entertainment enrichment, as well?

Is a skyline's height (and perhaps mass) a magnet that has more to do with a city's prominence and growth than what we may have believed? Is our sense of height as it relates to people transferable to our sense of height as it relates to cities?>