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Tall buildings can affect the seismic safety of shorter buildings in their vicinities. Majority of the studies have investigated such influences by analyzing the structure-soil-structure interactions in the local vicinity. Considering the large mass and long fundamental period of tall buildings, perturbations during earthquakes can affect a very broad area. Therefore, it is important to investigate the influence of tall buildings from a city-scale perspective. Using the Shanghai Central Business District (CBD) area as an example, this study quantified the influence of tall buildings on the seismic responses of sites and buildings using a nonlinear time history analysis. Different earthquake intensities and building configurations were analyzed, and the effects of tall buildings on the ground motion energies, building responses, and damage states were investigated. These findings indicate the need to consider the seismic safety of shorter buildings surrounded by taller ones. • Site-city interactions considering both building and site nonlinearity are analyzed. • Influence by existence of one tall building is analyzed on a city scale. • Ground velocity can increase by 30% at regions surrounded by tall buildings. • Existence of a tall building may increase responses of an 800-m-away building by 10%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]