The 'Manhattan of the Desert': Shibam, Yemen's Ancient Skyscraper City (2015)

"High-rise apartments flourished in classical antiquity. Ancient Roman insulae there and in other imperial cities reached 10 and more storeys. Beginning with Augustus (r. 30 BCE-14 CE), several emperors attempted to establish limits of 20–25 m for multi-storey buildings, but met with only limited success." [Reference: Gregory S. Aldrete: "Daily Life in the Roman City: Rome, Pompeii and Ostia", 2004]

Insulae aren't necessarily sky-scrapers, though, right? They kind of build up on a larger composite base, and are a bit more massive - and lower in general - whereas the Shibam seem to have a smaller base, but taller reach, as a whole.

Yeah, Kowloon is cool but driven by different dynamics. Closer to Arcosanti or Tokyo than Shibam.

Yes, of course. So where's the documentation and does anyone readily know the answers?

Also, literal survivor bias: The buildings that weren't well made simply ceased to exist, and the ones still standing today are the ones that were well built, whether by design or accident.

Pretty much on point.

Apparently US is involved to fix relations with Saudis after the nuclear deal with Iran.

> The United States is selling the Saudi monarchy missiles and warplanes, assisting in the coalition’s targeting selection for aerial bombings and actively providing midair refueling for Saudi and United Arab Emirates jets that conduct indiscriminate airstrikes — the leading cause of civilian casualties. Meanwhile, the Saudi coalition is starving millions of Yemenis as a grotesque tactic of war.

via https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/opinion/yemen-war-unconst...

Yemen has been in a civil war for years which prompted Saudi intervention. Al Qaeda offshoots, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, massive drought and etc..

The oldest appartments in Venice from the middle ages also had 8 floors, made of wood and they where very low height. They are also still in use.

Although due to the geology of the place you can "cheat" this by building up a hill, it's not quite the same as building a freestanding 15 storey building. There are several places I know round the Bridges that have street level entrances four floors apart.

From this fine article: "Credited as the home of the first highrise apartment buildings, Shibam has become a symbol for the rise and resilience of middle eastern culture in the desolation of the surrounding desert."

There were 46,600 insulae in Rome at the time Shibam was built, and only 1790 private homes.

The idea that the entire building isn't built directly on the street/sidewalk. For example, many cities have rules that the first few floors can be built to the lot line, but then anything taller needs to be "set back" a number of feet. In theory, this should allow for more light to reach the street, but it often results in buildings that look like wedding cakes and waste a huge amount of space.

Setback is how far the building has to be set back from the road.

Most likely a typo for setback:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setback