Why diid skyscrapers become so common in the USA? It's not like there's a shortage of land!?

Question

I agree there isn't much land to be had in cities now, but way back in the day when the cities were being formed, there was loads of land - they could have just spread out rather than becoming concentrated in a centre...

Answer 1

Because in the big cities (New York, Chicago, LA, Houston, Dallas, etc) there isn't much land to be had in the city.  And what land there is, is going for premium prices.  Companies can build a building with more sq feet by building up (building it higher) cheaper than they can build a building the same size sq feet wise and building it on a larger piece of land.

Answer 2

THink of it this way. A businessman buys a pieceof land. If he builds a small bungalow he can fit around five people and won't earn that much money because only five peolpe can fit there. But if he builds up he could fit a thousand people and he would get money from each of those a thousand people. It's common sense

Answer 3

making tall impressive buildings was also a way to 'make a mark" on the city, free publicity, etc.

Answer 4

Because space near the city center where the majority of business is located is very scarse, so making the most of existing land is a priority.