The Flat-pack Skyscraper: How Wood Can Shape the Cities of the Future

Context

Published on 27 August 2026, the story anchors itself in an 18-story wooden skyscraper rising above a Norwegian lake. The tower offers a glimpse of a different kind of city. Right now, urban centers rely on concrete and steel, materials that generate massive carbon emissions. Replacing them with timber could theoretically turn skylines into giant carbon sinks. But scaling that vision requires harvesting millions of trees. The piece pauses on a quiet tension: what happens when the push to build a greener future collides with the physical limits of the forests meant to sustain it?

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