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There's nothing particularly urban, hip or vibrant about a bunch of glass skyscrapers along a freeway (see Houston)...The best neighborhoods in New York, San Fran, and even Dallas and Houston are all dense, low-rise areas.
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I completely agree. I'll take Greenwich Village over Midtown East anytime. And I think when you mention neighborhoods along Fredericksburg Road, the difference is that these places have genuine history that you can see as you drive or walk past them. Trying to revitalize the Deco District into a hip area has largely failed, but I think its only a matter of time as more people are inspired by its subtle charm.
We could have developers build high rises along 410, or 1604, or even downtown--they could have cafes and restaurants on the bottom, parking garages underground. You could walk from retail experience to retail experience; but would you really be living the hip life? To me, these "developed" areas are hallow, devoid of history, and manufacturing experience. We have so many cultural roots in and around our downtown area, and places just begging to be adaptively reused and utilized in areas like River North, around SouthTown, and South Flores. The Broadway Corridor.
We have the possibility with developments in these areas to create communities that change social dynamics--and I don't mean just the integration of low and high-income populations. I mean a revitalization of public space for socialization--the way San Antonio was first built by the Spanish (we can still see the remnants of their European inspirations).
This is a long-winded reply (to a pro-skyscraper post, at that), but what I am trying to say is that the built environment, if we accept it at face value, has a profound effect on socialization and the way we live. It's through community involvement and socialization that we have the power to change the way we experience space. As Paul and Percival Goodman explained, we could develop communities that unite us deeply, or we could continue "to develop cities of efficient consumption." - Communitas.