Shanghai: The world's largest Erector Set

Shanghai's building boom/bubble is not news for anyone who has read a newspaper or counted the contruction cranes protruding from the city's already formidable skyline over the past couple years. But this New York Times story puts the growth into some kind of perspective:

Move over, New York. This year alone, Shanghai will complete more towers with space for living and working than there is space in all the office buildings in New York City.

That will happen in a city that already has 4,000 skyscrapers, almost double the number in New York City. And there are designs to build 1,000 more by the end of this decade.

China's real estate market is so hot that miniature cities are being created with artificial lakes, and the nation's nouveau riche suddenly seem eager to put down as much as $5.3 million for a luxury apartment in skyscrapers with names like the Skyline Mansion.

Richard Burdett, professor of architecture and urbanism at the London School of Economics, is quoted in the story saying that China's current rate of growth is the fastest the world has seen in the past 50 to 100 years. This year, China expects to finish 4.7 billion square feet or more of construction.

Wow. But where will China get the natural resources -- like wood, for example -- to feed this growth? Oh. Right. Burma.

Photo by 2 Dogs.