A skyline is the or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural area setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land.
City skylines serve as a pseudo-fingerprint as no two skylines are alike. For this reason, news and sports programs, television shows, and movies often display the skyline of a city to set a location. The term The Sky Line of New York City was introduced in 1896, when it was the title of a color lithography by Charles Graham for the color supplement of the New York Journal.
Features
High-rise buildings
High-rise buildings, including
, are the fundamental feature of
urban area skylines.
Both
silhouette and cladding (brick or glass) make an impact on the overall appearance of a skyline.
Towers
Towers from different
make for contrasting skylines.
San Gimignano, in Tuscany, Italy, has been described as having an "unforgettable skyline" with its competitively built towers.
Remote locations
Some remote locations have notably striking skylines, created either by nature or by sparse human settlement in an environment not conducive to housing significant populations.
Use in media
Skylines are often used as and establishing shots in film, television programs, news websites, and in other forms of media.
Subjective ranking
Several services rank skylines based on their own subjective criteria.
Emporis is one such service, which uses height and other data to give point values to buildings and add them together for skylines. The three cities it ranks highest are
Hong Kong, New York City, and
Singapore.
See also
Further reading
External links
