Up, up and away

Tempozan Harbour Village ferris wheel, Osaka, Japan, a 368 ft ferris wheel, the fifth largest ferris wheel in the world Photograph: John William Banagan/Getty Images

Deno's Wonder Wheel at Astroland, Coney Island. The park has now closed Photograph: Alan Schein Photography/ Alan Schein Photography/CORBIS

The Cosmo Clock ferris wheel in Yokohama, Japan. Photograph: Jon Hicks/Corbis

A giant ferris wheel turns in Berlin near the television tower in Alexanderplatz in 2003. Photograph: Fabian Matzerath/AFP/Getty Images

Berlin is preparing to erect Europe's largest ferris wheel with a height of 185 metres (607ft). Illustration by the Great Wheel Corporation Photograph: PR company handout

Capsules are silhouetted against fireworks at the grand opening ceremony in 2008 of the world's largest observation wheel, also known as the Singapore Flyer, in Singapore. Photograph: Wong Maye-E/AP

Passengers on the London Eye watch the London skyline in December 2005 in London, England with smoke visible from fires at Buncefield oil depot Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty

A computer-generated image showing the Beijing Great Wheel which will stand in eastern Beijing's Chaoyang Park. The Beijing Great Wheel will tower 682 feet when finished which would make it the highest and largest in the world Photograph: Reuters

The Volksprater Riesenrad Ferris Wheel in Leopoldstadt in the east of Vienna. The wheel achieved notoriety after it featured in the film The Third Man. Photograph: David Levene

The Great Dubai Wheel, a proposed ferris wheel at 610 feet, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Photograph: Sajid Shafique / Gallo Images ROOTS RF collection/Getty

A close-up of a ferris wheel at the Navy Pier against a skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, USA Photograph: Sandy Felsenthal/Corbis

Belfast's ferris wheel towers over City Hall in Donegall Square in Northern Ireland Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

The York Eye joins York Minster on the skyline of York. The wheel, which is only 30ft smaller than the tower of York Minster, has 43 climate-controlled capsules for eight people and takes about 13 minutes to complete a revolution Photograph: John Giles/PA

The Wheel of Manchester in Exchange Square, one of the Christmas attractions in the city with new-look illuminations in 2006 Photograph: Christopher Thomond

A ferris wheel on a pier casts a shadow on Blackpool Beach Photograph: Don McPhee for the Guardian

A ferris wheel beneath Edinburgh Castle, Scotland, for the Winter Wonderland festival in 2007 Photograph: Murdo Macleod