Around the world, in densely populated cities and countries, the availability of land is diminishing and cemeteries are reaching capacity. In Beirut, Lebanon, the unavailability of burial plots has resulted in multiple family members being buried in a single grave. In Mexico City, remains are cycled in graves and years after a burial the remains are exhume to make room. To address this land scarcity problem, a trend is being seen of cemeteries built up instead of out. The Memorial Necropole Ecumenica in Brazil stands 32 stories tall and is currently the tallest cemetery. In Israel, the country’s government has implemented a plan to address land shortages and a recently built concrete vertical cemetery is intended to address the problem.
See Associated Press, Raising the Dead: Lack of Space Forces Cemeteries Skywards, NBC News, Oct. 17, 2014.
