CNN
The tower will be the crown jewel of Jeddah Economic City, a commercial and residential project of 57 million square feet (5.3 million square meters), that will feature homes, hotels and offices, as well as tourist attractions.

Height: 3,280ft
Architect: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
CNN
Construction of the landmark is estimated to cost $1.4 billion.

Height: 3,280ft
Architect: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
Jeddah Economic Company/Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
When the 3,280-feet-tall (1,000-meter-tall) Jeddah Tower opens in 2020, it will knock Dubai's iconic Burj Khalifa off its throne as the tallest skyscraper in the world by 236 feet (72 meters).

Height: 3,280ft
Architect: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
image courtes of emaar / via aurecon group
"The Tower" will be built on the Dubai Creek Harbor, a massive new tourism development. The Tower will eclipse the Dubai's Burj Khalifa -- currently the tallest building in the world.
Height: 928m (3,045ft)
Architect: Santiago Calatrava
image courtes of emaar / via aurecon group
The expected completion date for The Tower in Dubai is 2020.

Height: 928m (3,045ft)
Architect: Santiago Calatrava
image courtes of emaar / via aurecon group
The building will hold several observation decks in its oval-shaped peak. One deck will offer a 360-degree view of the city.

Height: 928m (3,045ft)
Architect: Santiago Calatrava
istockphoto
Currently world's tallest building, since it was completed in 2010, is the Burj Khalifa. It stands a massive 198 meters (650 feet) above its nearest competitor.

Height: 828m (2717ft)
Floors: 163
Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Situated close to the Grand Mosque of the holy city of Mecca, the tower complex is one part of the $15 billion King Abdulaziz Endowment Project, seeking to modernize Mecca and accommodate the ever-growing number of pilgrims.

Height: 601m (1972ft)
Floors: 120
Architect: Dar Al-Handasah Architects
via SL Green Realty Corp
A new tall tower has broken ground in New York City. Named the One Vanderbilt Avenue tower, the building is designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox architects, and construction officially started today. At 1,401 feet tall, upon completion it will be the second tallest building in New York after the One World Trade Center.

Height: 427m (1,401ft)
Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox
In February, a proposal for a mile-high tower in Tokyo was revealed.
Height: 1,600m (5,250ft)
Architect: Kohn Pefersen Fox Associates and Leslie E Robertson Associates
Kohn Pedersen Fox
The 1,600 meter tower is part of a future city concept named "Next Tokyo 2045," which envisions a floating mega-city in Tokyo Bay.

Height: 1,600m (5,250ft)
Architect: Kohn Pefersen Fox Associates and Leslie E Robertson Associates
DBOX
In December 2015, plans were unveiled for the 1 Undershaft -- a 300m tall building that could become the City of London's tallest building.
Height: 300m (984ft)
Floors: 73
Architect: Aroland Holdings
DBOX
1 Undershaft will sit across the river from London's tallest building, The Shard, which is 9.6 meters taller.

Height: 300m (984ft)
Floors: 73
Architect: Aroland Holdings
Courtesy CIM Group
432 Park Avenue, the tallest all-residential tower in the western hemisphere, opened its doors in December 2015, recently became the hundredth supertall building in the world.

Height: 425.5m (1396ft)
Floors: 85
Architect: Rafael Vinoly, SLCE Architects, LLP
Gensler
Completed in 2015, Asia's tallest building surpasses the Shanghai World Financial Center and the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai's Pudong district. Estimated to cost $2.4 billion, its completion marked the end of a project in the financial district stretching back to 1993.

Height: 632m (2073ft)
Floors: 128
Architect: Jun Xia, Gensler
STAN HONDA/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Known as the "Freedom Tower," One World Trade Center stands on part of the site previously occupied by the Twin Towers. It's the highest building in the western hemisphere, and cost $3.9 billion according to Forbes.

Height: 541.3m (1776 ft)
Floors: 94
Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Taiwan Tourism
The first skyscraper to break the half-kilometer mark, the world's tallest building between March 2004 and March 2010 is also one of the greenest -- certified LEED platinum in 2011. Designed to withstand the elements, including typhoons, earthquakes and 216 km/h winds, Taipei 101 utilizes a 660-tonne mass damper ball suspended from the 92nd floor, which sways to offset the movement of the building.

Height: 508m (1667ft)
Floors: 101
Architect: C.Y. Lee & Partners
ChinaFotoPress/Getty Image
Construction of Shanghai's third supertall building took 11 years, but the skyscraper dubbed "The Bottle Opener" was met with critical praise and high-end residents when it completed in 2008, including the Park Hyatt Shanghai and offices for Ernst & Young, Morgan Stanley, and BNP Paribas.

Height: 492m (1614.17ft)
Floors: 101
Architect: Kohn Pederson Fox
ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Hong Kong's tallest building has 108 floors -- but walking around it, you'd get a different story. The city's tetraphobia -- the fear of the number four -- means floors with the number have been skipped, and the International Commerce Center is marketed as a 118-story skyscraper.

Height: 484m (1588ft)
Floors: 108
Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox
Blackstation/courtesy gensler
Standing at 2,074 feet (632 meters) tall, the Shanghai Tower is the world's second tallest building.
Goh Seng Chong/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The joint eighth highest completed skyscraper is still the tallest twin towers in the world. Finished in 1996 and inaugurated in 1999, it's been the site of numerous hair-raising stunts. Felix Baumgartner set a then-BASE jump world record in 1999 by jumping off a window cleaning crane, and in 2009 Frenchman Alain Robert, known as "Spiderman," freeclimbed to the top of Tower Two without safety equipment -- and did so in under two hours.

Height: 451.9m (1483ft)
Floors: 88
Architect: Cesar Pelli
Sun Chen
The architects behind the Burj Khalifa are also responsible for the world's tenth tallest building. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's Zifeng Tower in Nanjing completed in January 2010 and sits just above the Willis Tower (previously the Sears Tower) in the rankings, eclipsing the SOM-designed Chicago icon by a mere 7.9 meters (26 ft).

Height: 450m (1476ft)
Floors: 66
Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
Completed in March 2016, the Lotte World Tower is Seoul's first supertall skyscraper, and is currently the sixth tallest building in the world.

Height: 555 meters (1819 feet)
Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Wong Tung & Partners
A hotel and office hybrid, this straightforward supertall building by Wong Tung & Partners in Hunan Province's booming capital city is expected to be completed by 2017.

Height: 452 metres (1,482 ft)
Architect: Wong Tung & Partners
E8xE8
The Suzhou IFS is two meters shy of the Changsha tower.
Height: 450 meters (1476 feet)
Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
The World One skyscraper in Mumbai will be as tall as the Willis Tower, the second tallest building in North America, and will be one of the world's tallest residential structures.

Height: 442 meters (1450 feet)
Architect: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
DLN Architects
This design mimics and simplifies the neo-Gothic spires of an earlier skyscraper boom, à la the Woolworth and Empire State Buildings.
Height: 383 meters (1,257 ft)
Architect: Dennis Lau & Ng Chun Man Architects & Engineers
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates
Kohn Pedersen Fox is back with this 90-story residential building. Zigzagging cuts in the curtain-wall break up the monotony of yet another boxy tower.

Height: 372 metres (1,220 ft)
Architect: Kohn Pedersen Fox
CNN  — 

After breaking ground in October 2016, Dubai Creek Tower is on the up – although it hasn’t yet reached ground level.

Intriguing new photos have emerged courtesy of developer Emaar Properties showing an aerial shot of the tower’s vast footprint, along with workers deep underground finishing the foundations.

courtesy Emaar Properties
An image from Emaar Properties dated August 13 shows workers constructing the pile cap frame on to which 1.59 million cubic feet of concrete will be poured.

Building within the 2.3 square-mile Dubai Creek Harbour complex, Emaar is looking to eclipse its most famous creation the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest structure since 2010. To do so has required laying 236ft deep foundation piles – a world record – set to be capped with 1.59 million cubic feet of concrete. When completed, the 3,045ft tower will best the Burj by a massive 322ft.

Dubai and Saudi Arabia towers in time war to be world's tallest

The Emaar Properties and Dubai Holdings joint venture is inspired by the lily flower and mosque minarets, say its developers, and will feature a 68-mile array of supporting cables. Swiss-Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has designed a 360-degree observation deck and a capacious Hanging Gardens of Babylon-style floor into the structure, with views over the nearby Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary.

Previously known as The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour, the project now shares the same name as a 384ft building completed in 1995. Emaar would not confirm a completion date to CNN, but previous reporting has said the tower would be ready in time for Dubai Expo 2020.

MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
The site of the Dubai Creek Tower in April 2016 before work on the foundations began. Emaar Properties is constructing the tower as the centerpiece of a new hub for the Emirate, which will also feature residential blocks, and office and retail space.

The project is currently engaged in a construction battle with The Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia. Both are vying for the title of the world’s tallest man-made structure. Dubai Creek Tower will top out at 3,045ft, while Saudi Arabia’s will be 237ft taller – meaning the tower in the UAE will need to complete first if it wants to hold the record (however briefly).

Work on the $1.23 billion Jeddah Tower began in 2013, and despite reports of delays in 2016, 58 floors have been built as of July 2017.

image courtes of emaar / via aurecon group
A rendering of the Dubai Creek Tower at the center of the upcoming harbour complex.

The megatall (1,969ft plus) structures fall into separate architecture categories, however, meaning both projects will claim world records.

The Dubai Creek Tower is defined as a tower, not built to be habitable or for office work. It will surpass the Tokyo Skytree, the current record holder, by 964ft. The Jeddah Tower on the other hand will have 167 habitable floors (and 85 non-inhabitable floors) and will surpass the Burj Khalifa, currently the world’s tallest building, by 563ft.

Will the so-called “city of superlatives” strike again? Time and toil will tell.