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Buildings are getting to be so tall that the Council on Tall Buildings came up with a new name for their most extreme versions: Megatall.
This is density taken to an extreme that may not be all that helpful. For one thing, people, goods, and water have to be moved all the way to the top of these things, and that requires a lot of energy. In addition, above a certain height, structural elements take up more and more of a building's interior space, reports Sun Joo Kim at SmartPlanet.
Here's the full list of the world's tallest buildings in 2020 — and these are just the ones that look like they'll actually be built, vs. those that are on the drawing board.
1. Kingdom Tower, Jeddah: 1,000+ meters (3,280+ feet)
2. Burj Khalifa, Dubai: 828 meters (2,717 feet)
3. Ping An Finance Center, Shenzen: 660 meters (2,165 feet)
4. Seoul Light DMC Tower: 640 meters (2,101 feet)
5. Signature Tower, Jakarta: 638 meters (2,093 feet)
6. Shanghai Tower, Shanghai: 632 meters (2,073 feet)
7. Wuhan Greenland Center, Wuhan: 606 meters (1,988 feet)
8. Makkah Royal Clock Tower Hotel, Makkah: 601 meters (1,972 feet)
9. Goldin Finance 117, Tian Jin: 597 meters (1,957 feet)
10. Lotte World Tower, Seoul: 555 meters (1,819 feet)
11. Doha Convention Center and Tower, Doha: 551 meters (1,808 feet)
12. One World Trade Center, New York City: 541 meters (1,776 feet)
13. Chow Tai Fook Guangzhou, Guangzhou: 530 meters (1,739 feet)
14. Tianjin Chow Tai Fook Binhai Center, Tian Jin: 530 meters (1,739 feet)
15. Dalian Greenland Center, Dalian: 518 meters (1,699 feet)
16. Pentominium, Dubai: 516 meters (1,693 feet)
17. Busan Lotte Town Tower, Busan: 510 meters (1,674 feet)
18. Taipei 101, Taipei: 508 meters (1,667 feet)
19. Kaisa Feng Long Centre, Kaisa: 500 meters (1,640 feet)
20. Shanghai WFC, Shanghai: 492 meters (1,614 feet)
