The Guardian: "Skyscrapers wreck cities – yet still Britain builds them"

"Around 500 towers are proposed for London. They're not just ugly: they symbolise Britain's greedy pandering to developers"

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I love towers and hate towers. I love those of Siena and San Gimignano and the skyscraper clusters of Manhattan and Dubai. I admire the design of London’s Canary Wharf, and of the Shard, if only it had not been dumped on Bermondsey. I do not love the ugliness now being scattered at random along the banks of the Thames or the squalor of London's skyline. As art historian Vince Scully said of New York, he once 'entered the city like a god; now one scuttles in like a rat'.

"We have seen nothing yet. The latest survey from New London Architecture, the only body monitoring the city’s towerscape, is nothing short of sensational. At the turn of the century, the metropolis had some 30 towers over 20 storeys. Two years ago 115 were planned or under construction. Now, according to NLA, a staggering 510 are proposed. No plan for this proliferation has ever been published.

"No mayor has ever put it to the voters. Unlike any other European country, skyscrapers can go up wherever developers want, provided only that they do not spoil a view of St Paul's Cathedral. It is 'wild west' planning."