Shanghai, which has seen one of the world's most futuristic skylines spring up in recent years, is considering a plan to severely limit the number of new skyscrapers, state press reported yesterday.
The regulation would curb the eastern city's booming real-estate market, restricting the height of new office and residential buildings, the Shanghai Daily said.
However some new monoliths could still emerge despite the Shanghai Urban Planning Administrative Bureau's planned rules, the paper said.
This is because massive tracts of downtown real estate have already been leased to developers, and the regulations would not stop skyscrapers from going up on those plots.
But the move could squeeze developers' profits.
"Controlling height would mean a sharp cuts in proceeds," Stanley Chan, managing director of Stanley and Partners Real Estate Investment Management Co Ltd told the paper.
Despite having more than 250 buildings of 30 floors and over, land prices in downtown Shanghai run upwards of 12,000 yuan (US$1,400) per square meter, some of the most expensive real estate in the world.
As a result, developers build high to earn the best possible return on their investment.
This is not the first time that the government has attempted to reign in the construction of skyscrapers.
With a growing number of civil court cases alleging skyscrapers block light and raise the city's temperatures, buildings over 30 stories were temporarily put on hold in 1999.
The best-known skyscraper in Shanghai is the Jinmao Plaza, a futuristic 420m tower containing the world's tallest hotel, the Grand Hyatt, which occupies the 53rd to 88th floors.
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