Abstract. The article analyzes the main reasons for the development of high-rise building construction the most important of which-is a limitation of the urban areas and, consequently, the high price of land reserved for construction. New engineering and compositional solutions for the creation of new types of buildings are considered -complex technical designs of a large number of storeys completely meet the new requirements for safety and comfort. Some peculiarities of designing high-rise buildings and searching for optimal architectural and planning solutions are revealed since, with external architectural simplicity, high-rise buildings have complex structural and technological and space-planning solutions. We consider the specific features of a high-rise housing in various countries around the world, including Russia, such as the layout of the multi-storey residential buildings, depending on the climatic characteristics of the regions, assessment of the geological risk of the construction site, the choice of parameters and functional purpose of the sections of the territory of highrise construction, location of the town-planning object for substantiating the overall dimensions of the building, assessment of changes aeration and engineering and hydrological conditions of the site. A special place in the article on the problems of improvement of the territory, the device of courtyards, landscaping, the device of playing and sports grounds. The main conclusion in the article is the following problem -when developing highrise housing construction, the development of high-rise housing, and an increase in the population density in the territory of large cities of Russia, necessary to create a comfortable and safe level of residents living and not a decrease, but an improvement in the quality of the urban environment.