The race to build ever higher could solve the housing crisis

But critics will warn those hungry for a mile-high tower that they should heed the warnings of Babel

Dubai celebrates the New Year at the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower (Getty)

Size isn’t everything – but when it comes to dramatic buildings, height is right. For moneyed cities and states, skyscrapers remain the ultimate architectural statements of intent. They can signify and attract wealth in equal measure.

It is perhaps no surprise, therefore, that there is currently something of a race to build ever more vertiginous towers, with the United Arab Emirates leading the way. Emaar Properties, the developers behind the world’s tallest existing building, the Burj Khalifa, announced on Sunday plans to build another mega-skyscraper in Dubai which is loftier still – by a “notch”.

Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, the Jeddah Tower – known as the Kingdom Tower – is aiming even higher. Due for completion in 2020, its 3,280 feet of concrete and steel will put its UAE rivals in the shade.

If all goes to plan, none of these monoliths will stay top of the tops for long. A design for the first mile-high building is awaiting approval and would see the construction of a 5,577 feet-high tower in Tokyo by 2045. Views from the upper floors could be remarkable. Or cloudy.

The serious side to all this is that the world’s ever-growing population has ever-expanding habitation needs. If we are to keep up, one answer to build up.

The costs of the most monumental projects may currently be prohibitive, but technological advances are likely to change that in future. In this country especially, the battle over whether we should preserve skylines or countryside is likely to get a lot more fierce.

Tower block critics will point to recent skyscraper fires in the UAE, as well as to the attraction of tall buildings to terrorists. They may even point proponents in the direction of JG Ballard’s great dystopian novel, High Rise, an adaptation of which recently hit cinema screens, in which residents’ social mores are warped by their closed society.

And as the residents of Babel found, when it comes to tower-building, it certainly doesn’t do to be presumptuous.