Invited Review Paper Robert Gifford Invited Paper: Received 24 October 2006; accepted 28 January 2007 Abstract: A full account of architectural science must include empirical findings about the social and psychological influences that buildings have on their occupants. Tall residential buildings can have a myriad of such effects. his review summarizes the results of research on the influences of high-rise buildings on residents’ experiences of the building, satisfaction, preferences, social behavior, crime and fear of crime, children, men- tal health and suicide. Most conclusions are tempered by moderating factors, including residential socioeconomic status, neighborhood quality, parenting, gender, stage of life, indoor density, and the ability to choose a housing form. However, moderators aside, the literature suggests that high-rises are less satisfactory than other housing forms for most people, that they are not optimal for children, that social relations are more imper- sonal and helping behavior is less than in other housing forms, that crime and fear of crime are greater, and that they may independently account for some suicides. Keywords: Tall buildings, Research methods, Residential satisfaction, Mental health, Stress, Crime and security, Social relations, Prosocial behavior, Suicide, Children “here is every reason to believe that [the] hi-rise...apartment dwelling has adverse effects on mental and social health.” (Cap- pon, 1972, p. 194). “...[B]lank condemnation of high-rise dwellings that does not consider specific contexts should be questioned...residents [in my study] showed a high degree of satisfaction at all floor levels” (Kim, 1997, p. iv). A Brief Historical Background Natural and Social Science Approaches to Architecture The ancient Egyptians probably were the first to apply scientific knowledge to the construction of buildings; in any case, their amazing structures are the best-understood ancient large buildings. Not only did their architects use geometry and astronomy to plan the pyramids, but also they had to understand and apply much natural-science knowledge about the properties of materials to design the huge yet precisely con- structed tombs that include intricate rooms and passageways. So sophisticated were their calculations that the Great Pyramid not only remains the largest stone building in the world after 4,000 years, but also was built so accurately that the opposite corners of its foundation, some 324 meters apart, are only 2 cm different in elevation. Later, the architects of the great gothic cathedrals of Europe so well understood advanced principles of construction that modern engineers sometimes marvel at, or are even baffled by, their ar- chitectural feats. Finally, of course, modern architectural science is full of advances that ancient and medieval architects probably could not imagine, given modern materials, computers and con- struction technology. All these have been amply documented in this journal for years. However, in parallel with these natural science accomplish- ments, social scientists interested in architecture have also been toiling away, but until recently, they have done so beyond the formal mandate of the Architectural Science Review. Now the time has come to bring some of the insights of the interdisciplinary social sciences into ASR, to complete the domain embodied by the phrase “architectural science.” As documented by several authors (e.g., Gifford, 2002; G. T. Moore, 1984, 1987) social science approaches to architecture can be dated to the middle 1960s, although less rigorously sci- ence-oriented understandings of human-building interactions must be traced back as far as the ancient Egyptians. Doubtless, for example, the construction and mere existence of the pyramids had far-reaching social effects in Egyptian society. he study of harmonious proportions (for example, of temples) with psycho- logical implications (the perception of beauty) can be traced to Pythagoras and his school 2500 years ago (Murray & Kovacs, 1972), and one may easily imagine that equally profound social effects were associated with the subsequent design, construction, and use of Greek temples, Roman baths, gothic cathedrals, early industrial factories, and the first high-rise buildings, constructed in the late 19th century. he Consequences of Living in High-Rise Buildings Department of Psychology and School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia V8S 2H1, Canada Tel: 1 250 721 7532; Fax: 1 250 721 8929; Email rgifford@uvic.ca © 2007 University of Sydney. All rights reserved. www.arch.usyd.edu.au/asr Architectural Science Review Volume 50.1, pp xx-xx