The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), the global authority on the world’s tallest towers, has announced a new, much shorter name: the Council on Vertical Urbanism (CVU). The rebrand hints at a broader mission, shifting focus from who tops the height charts to how denser cities can become more sustainable and more livable.
Founded in 1969, the council has served as a global authority on skyscrapers and vertical construction, maintaining the Skyscraper Center database and establishing standards for determining building height. It also hosts conferences, publishes research and technical journals, and issues annual awards for excellence in tall building design.
Under its new identity, the organization aims to address the growing role of “vertical urbanism,” a term that reflects how dense cities are increasingly developing upward to balance population growth with limited land and environmental pressures on the ground.
CVU has unveiled its new logo, a vertically stacked chevron forming an abstract building shape, on its redesigned website. While the nonprofit’s previous logo more literally depicted a building, the new design displays the nonprofit’s concentrated attention to address the broader challenges of urban life.
“Vertical urbanism isn’t just about height,” said Javier Quintana de Uña, CEO of the newly renamed council. “It’s about designing upward in smarter, more integrated ways to deliver sustainable, connected and human-centered cities.”
The shift aligns with urban trends in which high-rise developments are conceived as more than isolated structures, as interconnected systems combining housing, offices, transit, and public space. According to the UN, 68 percent of the world population is projected to live in urban areas by 2050. The council’s leadership described the change as a response to global challenges such as climate adaptation, housing shortages, and equitable access to urban amenities.
“[The rebranding] reflects what’s already happening in fast-growing cities, where density has to be reimagined not just as taller towers but as three-dimensional, connected systems that support healthier urban life,” said CVU board chair Shonn Mills.
The organization plans to roll out the new name and branding through October, including a redesigned website and materials for its members and partner institutions.
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