Editing Skyline

{{short description|Outline or shape viewed near the horizon}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|City skyline|the video game|Cities: Skylines}}
[[File:Lower Manhattan from Governors Island with a fishing boat (46294p).jpg|thumb|300px|Skyline of [[Lower Manhattan]] in 2021. The term "Skyline" was first used for [[New York City]] in 1896.]]
[[File:Burj Khalifa (worlds tallest building) and the Dubai skyline (25781049892).jpg|thumb|300px|Photographic [[silhouette]] of the [[Dubai]]'s skyline; [[Burj Khalifa]], the [[List of tallest buildings|world's tallest building]], is visible at the center.]]
A '''skyline''' is the [[wikt:outline|outline]] or [[shape]] viewed near the [[horizon]]. It can be created by a [[city]]'s overall structure, or by human intervention in a [[rural area|rural]] 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|lithograph]] by [[Charles Graham (artist)|Charles Graham]] for the color supplement of the ''[[New York Journal-American|New York Journal]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/print/exhibits/movingup/labelx.htm |publisher=[[New York Public Library]] |title=Moving Uptown |quote="When Charles Graham's view of New York was published, the new term used in the title, "sky line," caught on immediately." |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141229044701/http://web-static.nypl.org/exhibitions/movingup/labelx.htm |archivedate=2014-12-29}}</ref> Paul D. Spreiregen, [[FAIA]], has called a [city] skyline "a physical representation [of a city's] facts of life ... a potential work of art ... its collective vista."<ref>{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6zYFAAAAMAAJ
|title=Urban Design: The Architecture of Towns and Cities
|year=1965
|author=Paul D. Spreiregen
|publisher=[[McGraw-Hill]]|isbn=9780070603806
}}</ref>

{{Wide image|File:CC 2022-06-18 193-Pano.jpg|800px|[[Panoramic photography]] of the [[Toronto]]'s skyline featuring [[Rogers Centre]], [[CN Tower]], [[Downtown Toronto|city centre]] and [[Toronto Harbour|harbour]]}}
==Features==
===High-rise buildings===
{{Main|High-rise building}}
[[File:Detroit, Michigan, skyline ca. 1929.png|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Detroit]]'s skyline, {{Circa|1929}}]]
[[High-rise building]]s, including [[skyscraper]]s, are the fundamental feature of [[urban area|urban]] skylines.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Tall Buildings and the Urban Skyline: The Effect of Visual Complexity on Preferences |first1=Tom |last1=Heath |first2=Sandy G. |last2=Smith |first3=Bill |last3=Lim |date=July 2000 |issn=0013-9165 |journal=Environment and Behavior |doi=10.1177/00139160021972658 |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=541–556 |s2cid=5199331 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Skyscraper geography |first=Donald |last=McNeill |doi=10.1191/0309132505ph527oa |journal=Progress in Human Geography |date=February 2005 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=41–55 |s2cid=220928675 |quote=geographers have tended to neglect the substantial impact of skyscrapers on urban life.}}</ref> Both [[silhouette|contour]]s and [[Siding (construction)|cladding]] (brick or glass) make an impact on the overall appearance of a skyline.

===Towers===
[[File:San Gimignano 05.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[San Gimignano]] Towers in [[Tuscany]], Italy]]
Towers from different [[era]]s make for contrasting skylines.

[[San Gimignano]], in [[Tuscany]], Italy, has been described as having an "unforgettable skyline" with its competitively built towers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/550|title=Historic Centre of San Gimignano|first=UNESCO World Heritage|last=Centre|website=whc.unesco.org|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804214722/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/550|archivedate=2016-08-04}}</ref>

===Remote locations===
[[File:Mount Everest as seen from Drukair2 PLW edit.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Mount Everest]]]]
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 [[wikt:background|background]]s and [[establishing shot]]s in film, television programs, news websites, and in other forms of media.

==Subjective ranking==
[[File:Hong_Kong_skyscrapers_in_a_night_of_typhoon.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Skyscrapers of [[Hong Kong]]]]
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]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Skyline Ranking |url=https://www.emporis.com/statistics/skyline-ranking |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106210644/http://www.emporis.com/statistics/skyline-ranking |url-status=usurped |archive-date=November 6, 2012 |publisher=Emporis |access-date=29 April 2021}}</ref>

{{Wide image|File:Marina Bay, Financial District and Singapore River (35622190292).jpg|800px|Skyline of [[Singapore]]'s [[Downtown Core]]}}

==See also==
* [[Cityscape]]
* [[Skyscraper Index]]
* [[List of cities with the most skyscrapers]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110604164900/http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=skyline_ranking Emporis ranking of cities by the visual impact of their skylines]}}
* {{cite book |title=Skylines: understanding and molding urban silhouettes |year=1981 |last=Attoe |first=Wayne |isbn=9780471279402 |publisher=Wiley}}
* {{cite book |title=Design of Cities |first=Edmund |last=Bacon |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=1967 |isbn=978-0-14-004236-8|title-link=Design of Cities }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Lim |first1=Bill |last2=Heath |first2=Tom |title=What is skyline: a quantitative approach |editor=Hayman H.
|journal=Architectural Science: Past, Present and Future, Proceedings of the Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Architectural Science Association |year=1993 |pages=23–32}}
* {{cite journal |last=Ford |first=Larry R. |title=The urban skyline as a city classification system |journal=[[Journal of Geography]] |year=1976 |volume=75 |issue=3 |pages=154–164 |doi=10.1080/00221347608980594 |bibcode=1976JGeog..75..154F }}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Skylines}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Architectural terminology]]
[[Category:Cities]]
[[Category:Panoramic art]]
[[Category:Skyscrapers]]
[[Category:Cityscapes]]