This Spanish city has more skyscrapers per person than New York, Dubai or anywhere else on the planet
The Alicante resort's extraordinary vertical skyline is the result of six decades of deliberate urban planning
Benidorm divides opinion like few other places on earth, but whether you love it or loathe it, there's one thing nobody can argue with: its skyline is extraordinary.
The Costa Blanca resort has more skyscrapers per capita than any other city in the world, including New York, Dubai, Hong Kong and Tokyo, and the story behind how that happened is a lot more interesting than you might expect.
With a registered population of just 77,200 people, Benidorm has more than 60 buildings exceeding 25 storeys, at least 65 towers surpassing 80 metres in height and 26 buildings topping 100 metres. That works out at roughly one skyscraper over 100 metres for every 2,970 inhabitants, a ratio that no other city on the planet comes close to matching.
For comparison, New York has more than 320 skyscrapers, Dubai over 200 buildings exceeding 150 metres and Hong Kong a staggering 560, but spread those numbers across their populations and Benidorm leaves them all in the shade.
The roots of this remarkable urban landscape go back to the 1960s, when the city made a conscious decision to grow upwards rather than outwards.
The idea was to concentrate residents and visitors into a relatively small footprint rather than sprawling across the surrounding land. It worked. In summer, Benidorm's population swells from around 77,000 to more than 350,000, and the city absorbs that pressure without the kind of urban sprawl that has swallowed up coastlines elsewhere along the Mediterranean.
Over the years, this vertical density has freed up land, maintained open spaces, promoted pedestrian mobility in tourist areas and contributed to energy efficiency. The city has been recognised as a Smart Tourist Destination by the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality, a certification that takes into account urban management, planning and sustainability.
Image: Comunitat Valenciana
Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin and get an email with all the week’s news straight to your inbox
Special offer: Subscribe now for 25% off (36.95 euros for 48 Bulletins)
OR
you can sign up to our FREE weekly roundup!
Read some of our recent bulletins:
Discount Special Offer subscription:
36.95€ for 48 Editor’s Weekly News Roundup bulletins!
Please CLICK THE BUTTON to subscribe.
(List price 3 months 12 Bulletins)
Read more stories from around Spain:
