A.A. Aldeberky, The influence of high-rise buildings on the environment 1 Urban wind is wind flowing over an open area, above and around the buildings attains a lower overall air speed and a higher turbulence due to the friction by the buildings. 1 INTRODUCTION High-rise buildings - according to Christopher Alexander (1977) - are exceeding the level of a tree in its natural surrounding, i.e., higher than 12 – 15 meters. The tombs of the Ancient Egyptians were the first high construction in history. So were the buildings of the Kingdom of Saba in Yemen and the Towers of Shiban in Hadramout in South Yemen, which did not change their character throughout the Yemenite, Indian and Islamic periods. These buildings merge with the surrounding mountains reaching a height of 30 meters with one to three meters thick walls of clay brick getting slimmer while getting higher (fig. 1a). The year 1851 marked the beginning of the industrial revolution, the use of iron in construct- ing bridges and the building of the Crystal Palace in London. The production of concrete in 1870 helped in the fifties to reconstruct whole cities destroyed during World War II when there was an urgent need for adequate and affordable shelters for millions of people who became homeless as a result of the war. This was the beginning of the construction of high-rise build- ings in Europe and America (Charles, 1981) and recently in several Arab oil producing coun- tries The fondness for high-rise buildings – according to Ali Raafat 2007 – is a human fondness for height and a wish to defy the earth gravitation force as it shows in the examples of the build- ing the Pyramids of Giza (fig. 1b), the Zigurate in Babylon and other towers of several worship places. In addition the trend of modern architecture towards overwhelming constructions and exaggeration in dimensions and levels evolved combined with a competition between communi- ties and architectures for original designs, lighter constructions and more expensive schemes. It has become a competition of construction technology between some South Asian countries, Eu- rope, America and Arab oil producing countries (fig. 2) (Raafat, 2007). The influence of high-rise buildings on the environment A.A. Aldeberky Fine Arts College, Menia University, Egypt. ABSTRACT:This paper is a review of a number of experimental studies of the great impact of high- rise buildings on the urban wind conditionsP0F 1 P, the increase in reflection of the urban solar radiation, the prevention of the nocturnal cooling ventilation, the building up of urban heat islands, air pollution, a general human discomfort indoors and outdoors , social failure and isolation due to lack of normal neighborhood relations which can lead to depression and the increase in crime rate.