In neighborhoods where tall buildings are banned, we need to plant more trees, which block the sun and cool the air. Few oppose their leafy shade.

Many of these buildings are far slimmer than the average UK prison cell, which is approximately 6ft (1.8m) by 8ft (2.4m), including a dinky room in Poland you can stay overnight in.

A version of this article appears in print on July 13, 2025, Section SR, Page 10 of the New York edition with the headline: We Need to Learn to Love Tall Buildings.

Two years later and two blocks north, the Murchison Building became the second -- and tallest -- at 11 stories and 138 feet. The tallest is now the Skyline Center at 12 stories.

Journal of Building Engineering (2023). [2] Structural Grammar for Design Optimization of Grid Shell Structures and Diagrid Tall Buildings. Automation in Construction (2022).