>>1008534That's why CBDs shouldn't be the heart of your downtowns. The heart should be pedestrian friendly and have a high concentration of street level shops and restaurants and general leisure. Residential mixed with commercial is more desirable than offices for increasing density.
Offices should be segregated, and built high in a central district with good transport connections to the rest of the metropolitan area, Building extremely high kills street life, but there is a definitive need for super tall office towers in cities with large economies.
The perfect solution is to marry commercial and residential spaces, so as to make them within walking distance, and have the CBD adjacent or close (within 8 miles or so of the city centre)
People commute to work, it is a normal thing, and they can do it quickly with the right rail network. People would much rather walk to their every day shopping and leisure activities.
Notice how your pic isn't in the shade of one of those mega towers around Shinjuku? That's because tall towers kill street life, and they're unavoidable in modern big cities.
