Effective Fire Risk Management In High Rise Buildings Requires Holistic Strategies
For the first time in human history, more of the world’s population now lives in towns, cities and other urban conurbations.
As the demographic landscape continues to shift towards the urban inevitable, agricultural production systems, and energy and food distribution patterns have also changed.
As a result, most national planning systems are now clearly skewed towards ensuring the continued viability of densely populated metropolitan areas.
The magnetism of urban living — along with many different interpretations of what consitutes “the good life” — becomes irresistible. It is hardly surprising that, under this kind of relentless development pressure, the demands, expectations and performance of the built environment have experienced enormous change, particularly over the past two decades or so.
Today, buildings and other structures in the built environment are being used in ways never imagined just a few years ago. Similarly, public and user expectations of structures big and small have also changed dramatically.
As more people migrate to towns and cities in search of better futures, they also accelerate the process of change in the fundamental dynamics of the new “hometowns” to which they eagerly migrate.
Many towns and cities find it difficult to cope with the pressures of these unrelenting and apparently unstoppable tides of humanity, especially in the developing world.
New housing and transportation systems, for example, are frequently outdated the moment they are commissioned, unable to cope with overwhelming demands.
Urban planners and government administrations are forever under tremendous pressure to simply catch up, usually with stopgap and temporary solutions.
On the other hand, thanks to the forces of history, topography, reasonable levels of visionary planning and other fundamental socioeconomic factors, many urban centres have little choice but to grow straight upwards, literally, aiming for the sky.
As land space becomes increasingly sparse and demand increases, costs multiply exponentially. With so many restrictions weighted against horizontal expansion prevalent in many urban areas, there’s little choice but to go “vertical” -- building skyscrapers ever more taller -- and reach for the stars.
Hong Kong, for example, is one of the most “vertical” cities in the world, with more high rise structures per km2 than anywhere else. Some parts of this energetic financial, manufacturing and service centre dominating China’s southern Pearl River region are not surprisingly amongst the most densely populated in the world.
CITIES WITH THE MOST SKYSCRAPERS
As the demographic landscape continues to shift towards the urban inevitable, agricultural production systems, and energy and food distribution patterns have also changed.
As a result, most national planning systems are now clearly skewed towards ensuring the continued viability of densely populated metropolitan areas.
The magnetism of urban living — along with many different interpretations of what consitutes “the good life” — becomes irresistible. It is hardly surprising that, under this kind of relentless development pressure, the demands, expectations and performance of the built environment have experienced enormous change, particularly over the past two decades or so.
Today, buildings and other structures in the built environment are being used in ways never imagined just a few years ago. Similarly, public and user expectations of structures big and small have also changed dramatically.
As more people migrate to towns and cities in search of better futures, they also accelerate the process of change in the fundamental dynamics of the new “hometowns” to which they eagerly migrate.
Many towns and cities find it difficult to cope with the pressures of these unrelenting and apparently unstoppable tides of humanity, especially in the developing world.
New housing and transportation systems, for example, are frequently outdated the moment they are commissioned, unable to cope with overwhelming demands.
Urban planners and government administrations are forever under tremendous pressure to simply catch up, usually with stopgap and temporary solutions.
On the other hand, thanks to the forces of history, topography, reasonable levels of visionary planning and other fundamental socioeconomic factors, many urban centres have little choice but to grow straight upwards, literally, aiming for the sky.
As land space becomes increasingly sparse and demand increases, costs multiply exponentially. With so many restrictions weighted against horizontal expansion prevalent in many urban areas, there’s little choice but to go “vertical” -- building skyscrapers ever more taller -- and reach for the stars.
Hong Kong, for example, is one of the most “vertical” cities in the world, with more high rise structures per km2 than anywhere else. Some parts of this energetic financial, manufacturing and service centre dominating China’s southern Pearl River region are not surprisingly amongst the most densely populated in the world.
CITIES WITH THE MOST SKYSCRAPERS
| No. | City | Buildings | No. | City | Buildings | |
| 1. | Hong Kong | 7,059 | 14. | Shanghai | 543 | |
| 2. | New York City | 4,803 | 15. | Mumbai | 542 | |
| 3. | Singapore | 2,374 | 16. | Vancouver | 521 | |
| 4. | Istanbul | 2,102 | 17. | Melbourne | 428 | |
| 5. | Toronto | 1,740 | 18. | Ankara | 402 | |
| 6. | São Paulo | 1,610 | 19. | Honolulu | 402 | |
| 7. | Buenos Aires | 1,422 | 20. | Los Angeles | 386 | |
| 8. | Chicago | 1,362 | 21. | Bangkok | 354 | |
| 9. | London | 1,228 | 22. | Houston | 342 | |
| 10. | Seoul | 710 | 23. | Benidorm | 318 | |
| 11. | Kuala Lumpur | 588 | 24. | Curitiba | 312 | |
| 12. | Sydney | 573 | 25. | Recife | 311 | |
| 13. | Tokyo | 563 |
MOST SKYSCRAPERS PER POPULATION
As cities become increasingly “vertical” and indeed more densely populated, new dynamics stress the built environment — many given so much as a passing thought three or four decades ago — especially in matters related to fire safety and other security concerns.
As the built environment becomes more and more complex, so too does the fire and security risk scenario. In fact, the built environment nowadays faces security challenges that barely raised a blip on the radar screen of planners a decade or so ago.
The challenges come from a number of sources but first and foremost is the growing awareness that Mother Nature — and the changing patterns of world weather and global warming — will always hold the key to how mankind lives and works.
The impact of the weather for example — no matter how much we reduce, recycle and re-use — simply cannot be overlooked any longer.
Buildings — if they are to qualify at all for any definition of “sustainability” — now have to be designed and built so that they reasonably accurate reflect modern user friendliness and ecologically accurate trends.
This trend is finally becoming more and more obvious in many regulatory regimes, from theoretical models right through to actual structures built and used in real time.
| No. | City | Population | Buildings | People/density |
| 1. | Benidorm | 51,873 | 318 | 163 |
| 2. | Miami Beach | 87,933 | 130 | 676 |
| 3. | Honolulu | 371,657 | 402 | 924 |
| 4. | Hong Kong | 6,724,900 | 7,059 | 952 |
| 5. | Arlington | 189,453 | 187 | 1,013 |
| 6. | Vancouver | 578,153 | 521 | 1,109 |
| 7. | Fort Lauderdale | 152,397 | 128 | 1,190 |
| 8. | Tel Aviv | 380,100 | 270 | 1,407 |
| 9. | Toronto | 2,481,494 | 1,740 | 1,426 |
| 10. | Santa Cruz | 220,700 | 153 | 1,442 |
| 11. | Singapore | 3,490,356 | 2,374 | 1,470 |
| 12. | New York City | 8,008,278 | 4,803 | 1,667 |
| 13. | Miami | 362,470 | 196 | 1,849 |
| 14. | Newark | 273,546 | 144 | 1,899 |
| 15. | Atlanta | 416,267 | 219 | 1,900 |
| 16. | Gold Coast City | 418,438 | 216 | 1,937 |
| 17. | Cuiabá | 433,355 | 220 | 1,969 |
| 18. | Minneapolis | 382,618 | 189 | 2,024 |
| 19. | Buenos Aires | 2,965,403 | 1,422 | 2,085 |
| 20. | Frankfurt | 652,412 | 309 | 2,111 |
| 21. | Chicago | 2,896,016 | 1,362 | 2,126 |
| 22. | Kuala Lumpur | 1,401,400 | 588 | 2,383 |
| 23. | Valladolid | 319,805 | 133 | 2,404 |
| 24. | St. Louis | 348,189 | 144 | 2,417 |
| 25. | Washington D.C. | 572,059 | 217 | 2,636 |
As cities become increasingly “vertical” and indeed more densely populated, new dynamics stress the built environment — many given so much as a passing thought three or four decades ago — especially in matters related to fire safety and other security concerns.
As the built environment becomes more and more complex, so too does the fire and security risk scenario. In fact, the built environment nowadays faces security challenges that barely raised a blip on the radar screen of planners a decade or so ago.
The challenges come from a number of sources but first and foremost is the growing awareness that Mother Nature — and the changing patterns of world weather and global warming — will always hold the key to how mankind lives and works.
The impact of the weather for example — no matter how much we reduce, recycle and re-use — simply cannot be overlooked any longer.
Buildings — if they are to qualify at all for any definition of “sustainability” — now have to be designed and built so that they reasonably accurate reflect modern user friendliness and ecologically accurate trends.
This trend is finally becoming more and more obvious in many regulatory regimes, from theoretical models right through to actual structures built and used in real time.