It’s not for construction and maintenance. It’s for inspection. The scaffolds exploded after some facade bits fell on someone and they passed Local Law 11, and

It’s not for construction and maintenance. It’s for inspection. The scaffolds exploded after some facade bits fell on someone and they passed Local Law 11, and they radically increased the number of inspections and basically required scaffolds for them. The correct modern solution is probably mostly drones. This idea has been floated but is not presently legal, and the scaffold companies will lobby the government and cry bloody murder, so expect the scaffolding to continue for the next 300 years.