Boston’s skyline is being rapidly transformed by the construction of high-rise buildings. Once confined to the “spine’’ along Boylston Street, they are now sprouting up in the city’s urban core and on the immediate fringes, with little evidence of coherent planning. Efforts are even afoot to skirt or gut the law that limits building heights around the Boston Common and Public Garden — a law preventing developers from casting those treasured legacies in shadow (“Shades of worry on tower project,’’ Page A1, 1 Nov 2016).

But shadows are not the only negative with high-rise structures. These structures also create unpleasant wind conditions at street level, and their towering size trivializes neighboring and historic structures and diminishes the sense of integration between the built and natural environments. Quirky shapes and creative angles cannot disguise the fact that these buildings are bottom-line architecture: glass and steel towers designed with minimum expense and maximum profit in mind. They do little to enhance the urban aesthetic.

The drive to turn Boston into something like Manhattan, Dubai, or Bejing should be resisted. This city stands apart from other major metropolises in the United States because of its human scale, its livable city center, its respect for history and community, and its distinct and vibrant neighborhoods. Boston is world class because of the quality of life it offers, not because it has tall buildings.

Gregory E. Smith, Boston