Without its skyscrapers, New York wouldn't really be New York. But these defining structures that are so characteristic of the city, these buildings that tower over the neighbourhoods and its inhabitants are playing a role in pushing it a little further into the ground
New York City is under threat from rising ocean level and the increase in extreme weather events. But another factor is also a contributor to worsening the phenomenon: the titanic weight of its buildings.
Without its skyscrapers, New York wouldn't really be New York. But these defining structures that are so characteristic of the city, these buildings that tower over the neighborhoods and its inhabitants are playing a role in pushing it a little further into the ground. And the risk appears to be particularly high on the island of Manhattan, home to NY's most emblematic buildings such as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. These are the findings of a study published in early May in the journal Earth's Future. To reach this conclusion, American researchers from the University of Rhode Island calculated the mass of all the buildings in the five boroughs of New York City (a total of 1,084,954 buildings). Verdict: 1.68 trillion pounds or 764 million metric tons!