Title basically. I tried to underexpose the shadows severely to make it look more the silhouette, but that just made it look even worse. I suppose the only way to get better pics is to find a better location. But I would appreciate if someone can give me advice on any other tricks I could use to make the sky look better and take focus away from the urban hell
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One improvement to make with this photo is the tonal range — part of the the urban landscape in it reads as uninteresting is that it's all fairly middle gray. I think your approach of looking for silhouette could be a good one, and a polarizing filter can be a good way to accentuate contrast within and against the sky.
I actually think the chair and white balcony make a neat subject. Maybe try lying down on the balcony so it takes a lot more of the field of view, put the chair center or 1/3 of center, and then look up towards sky?