Big city life unites the planet. Every habitable continent has metropolitan hot spots that are a hive of activity, a hub of culture – or, to countless millions, the place they call home.

Some thrive on a symphony of car horns while for others there’s the rhythmic echo of trains or even ships. The air may hang heavy with spices or fragrant flowers, among buildings that are rarefied or regenerated. There’s no universal formula that makes a city illustrious. But the spectacle of a horizon brimming with prominent buildings great and small evokes an anticipatory thrill about what lies at its core. And a skyline is that city’s iconic signature writ large on a blank canvas, with no two appearing the same.

A skyline is a window-shoppers guide to what lays in store. It is a visual code that bridges the language gap and shows you at a glance what has made a city great.

From the dizzy heights of the Dubai horizon to the ancient silhouette of Rome, Skylines features fifty of the most iconic, vibrant and often magnificent places from across the globe. This is your key to exploring the world through the architectural triumphs that make our cities famous.             

Beautiful and atmospheric illustrations accompany an introduction to these iconic vistas, summing up their spirit, history and location. Short histories of each place reveal threads that illuminate often well-trodden streets. This compilation is defined by the one-of-a-kind buildings – including fortresses, palaces, sacred sites, monuments, skyscrapers and cultural hotspots – that makes each one unique. 

See how well you really know these cities as they are depicted through the silhouettes of their most noteworthy buildings. 

Yolanda Zappaterra is a London-based author, editor and researcher who has credits on more than 30 art, design and travel titles. She has been writing about architecture, art and travel for 20 years, and contributes regularly to leisure and lifestyle magazines and specialist art and design magazines, including Time Out, Blueprint, etapes and Design Week.

Jan Fuscoe is a freelance feature writer/editor living in London. She has written architectural walks for Fodor's London guide and edited a number of Time Out publications, including Italy: Perfect Places. She also writes regular features for food, travel and luxury magazines including Travel, Upward Curve, Cuisine and Bologna for Connoisseurs.

JENNY SEDDON is an illustrator and screenprinter living in London. She has a simple, naive style and is drawn to the detail in the everyday.