[The ATX]

Originally Posted by Komeht

1. You'd be wise to not assume that I don't think about this stuff - I'm practically obsessed with it.

2. I care far far more about developing a livable, walkable vibrant downtown than I care about skyline. I'm not against tall buildings per se at all - there are great cities that are tall (Vancouver, Manhattan) and wonderful central cities that are not (Portland, Paris, DC etc.). But what matters to me more than anything is what is going on on the street, from the human perspective. I just don't care that much about skyline, at least, not in comparison to urbanism. That's why when I said I'd rather have 50 infill projects like these that activate the street, infill blighted and underutilized sections of downtown and create real urbanism, I meant EXACTLY what I said.

3. 50 wasn't an exaggeration on my part at all - in fact, I would say 50 more projects on this scale would be better characterized as "a good start".

And supertalls in Austin are going to be a rare rare occurrence (so rare we don't have one yet) if they happen at all. I'd rather not wait for one or two of these things to come along (and hope they are able to be financed, and get through 5 years of approvals without the economy tanking). So much of Austin's downtown is blighted - a lot of these projects happening can help to knit together the areas downtown to create something special.

Or to put it another way - I'd far rather be Portland, with it's squat skyline but incredibly impressive downtown than be Houston with it's marvelous skyline and disappointing urbanism.

This could go down hill like the affordable housing discussion. I think we all agree in the sense that there are room for both. A lively street level downtown isn't mutually exclusive of a downtown with lots of high rises. People wouldn't be clamoring for downtown high rise living if the excellent street scene in Austin didn't exist.