On the tragedy in England

There will of course be plenty of blame to go around for the fire which has taken at least 17 30 (sigh)lives in a high rise apartment building in London, but it strikes me that there is a more basic problem.  High rise buildings simply do not make sense except as a statement of vanity.  

To draw a picture, in London, you've got a population of about eight million in 1600 square kilometers--about 2000 square feet per person.  Build four stories tall and have 90% of the land not covered by a building, and you've got 800 square feet per person--my share of both my home and office space.  You would also have more green space than does a typical neighborhood in small town Minnesota.

In other words, while I think the private sector should be allowed to build that high if they like, there's simply no need for a building so tall that the fire department can't readily help.  Central planners need to clue in to the fact that skyscrapers are monuments to vanity, not common sense.