Speaking more of towers, this Planetizen piece by Brent Toderian:
Tall Tower Debates Could Use Less Dogma, Better Design
When it comes to building height, there’s a lot of dogma out there among urbanists, in both directions. From time to time I’ve wound up in the middle of the two-headed height dogma monster and have usually tried to convey a third perspective. This isn’t easy, as I’ve been characterized as both a champion of tall buildings (I was Chief Planner in Vancouver, perceived by many to be a “tall building mecca,” after all…), and as a champion for ground-oriented density (what I’ve called “gentle density”) and mid-rise density, having opposed tall towers in many contexts (such as along much of the Cambie Corridor, as discussed at length here)…
For my part, I try to avoid what I consider “scale dogma.” I am neither inherently for tall buildings, nor against them. There is no height that will automatically consign me or my fellow urbanists to Hell. There are, however, good and bad design choices.
Although I have nothing against tall towers per se, there are few things I dislike more than a tall tower in a dumb place, or a badly designed tall building – of which there are many. In fact, many of the cities I’ve worked with likely have a dislike of tall buildings stemming from one (or some) they’ve approved in the past that was just plain awful. I call this the “Montparnasse Effect,” named after the tower in Paris that so infuriated Parisians. I often note that “if that tower was what I thought I’d be getting, I’d be against tall towers too!”
… the thing about height and density in Vancouver – when done well, our approach blends the best of both scales. The mid-rise establishes the “urban room” and walkability of the street, particularly given that we ensure that building edges are as consistently active as practical. 
The additional tower density is literally added on top of the mid-rise density – you certainly couldn’t claim here, as some do in other contexts, that you could get more density in mid-rise form than you can in high-rise form. With the towers separated and no more than 2 per long rectangular block-face (and often one), the human scale is created by the podium.
.Often copied, but sadly often poorly, this building form can provide the “have your cake and eat it too” result in terms of the scale debates, so much so that Jan Gehl has commented that he “still doesn’t think cities need high-rises, but if they choose to do them, they should do them like Vancouver does.”
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Much more here.
Pretty well said, Brent. The density point is certainly a helpful clarification. I think many people argue the “no density increase” between mid- and highrise as an either/or, rather than a both/and proposition.