Giant highrise buildings threaten to transform London’s skyline. “So far only the Swiss Re tower has been built, but a dozen or more are in the pipeline. They reveal that London’s problem is not that it is turning itself into a Dallas or a Houston, as we used to worry. To judge by the wave of new developments on the way, London is going to be the nearest Europe comes to Shanghai. Footloose international finance, a mayor intoxicated by high-rise architecture, and a developer-friendly planning system have unleashed a wave of developments that are bigger, and brasher, than anything the city has yet seen.”