A skyscraper can be a monument to the builder's pride or a literal monument, designed to attract tourists and ten- ants to the city's, the country's, or the world's tallest building. When John Roscoe, in 1930, wanted a taller building than Walter Chrysler's, he pushed for his own, completed just one year after the Chrysler building More than 40 years later, his Empire State Building (Figure 7.25a). was still the world's tallest building, at 1250 ft. Even today, it is surely the most famous skyscraper ever. New construction is also driven by the same social forces as those behind the boom in Chicago, New York, and London at the end of 19th century. Businesses then and now want to be near a city's commercial center and emerging economies are seeing a movement of the population from villages to cities. As this edition goes to press, the tallest building is Taipei 101 in Taiwan (Figure 7.25b). Built in 2003, it stands 1671 feet tall.