July 17: Best skylines

Check out this list of the world's 15 best skylines plus 15 honorable mentions. Complete with picture goodness. The criteria?

• List built upon earlier version
  
• The city must have a recognizable man-made vertical set-up or design in an urban area, visible against a horizon
  
• Historical and modern architectural recognition and feats in each city
  
• Total height of the city's structures
  
• Polls taken on accredited sites (e.g. Skyscrapercity.com) for personal preference
  
• Statistics and facts from emporis.com (the most accredited architectural site)
  
• Uniqueness of topography and/or city planning
  
• Geographical representation. There is an attempt to represent cities from every continent
  
• Skyline improvement rank, based on known developments in the city
  
• Urban population includes all surrounding regions associated with the city
  

This is kind of like reading the placemat in Spaghetti Factory with their worldwide locations, isn't it? These are the skylines I've seen for myself (because I know you care):

#2 Chicago
#15 Seattle
#19 San Francisco
#24 Las Vegas
#25 London

If just being in that city's airport counts, I can add two more. And if knowing someone who's been to the city counts, 13 more. And if seeing the city on the Travel Channel once, well, you can probably count almost all of them. And I saw Rio on CSI: Miami and The Simpsons.

My two cents

• San Francisco belongs much higher on the list
  
• London is a mish-mash of ultra-modern and zillion-year-old buildings. It's hideous, skyline speaking. And that big-ass Ferris wheel there now doesn't help. I would much sooner put Paris on the list than London.
  
• Las Vegas is not nearly as impressive during the day--dark vs. light ought to account for something, oughtn't it?
  
• Sonya lives in Shenzhen. I love the list dude's comment: With 13 buildings at over 200 meters tall, including the Shun Hing Square (the 8th tallest building in the world), Shenzhen is a marvel of lights after sunset. You can’t help but ask yourself if you are in a video game or in a real city.
  
• Sonya has actually lived in a lot of the cities on this list. Why do we like her again?

Where have you been?

--Jen