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Originally Posted by BuildThemTaller
This is getting way off topic, but I doubt that Austin progresses like Houston. Houston hasn't had much growth of its skyline in decades. The economy of Houston is not diversified enough. There's the oil and gas industry and medical industry. The latter doesn't really build a skyline. Hospitals are large in square footage but not in height.
Austin has the two things a city wants to sustain growth: the State Capital and the flagship public university. Those both bring in dollars. Large law firms demand commercial space. A highly-educated workforce like you get near a major university like UT-Austin demands commercial space.
Austin is not Chicago but I think a better example of a city skyline progression is Minneapolis or Seattle (not a state capital, but close enough + UW). In the next 50 years, Austin will have the most impressive skyline in Texas and one of the better ones in the United States. It would be great if they invested in a public transit system to prepare for that.
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Austin has a lot going for it. It's basically the only hip spot in a triangle with points at Kansas City, New Orleans and San Diego. There are numberless individuals in Oklahoma, Texas and the greater Southwest who don't want to leave the region they call home, but would like access to tech employment and urbane amenities. In other regions you could consider secondary options like Minneapolis, Providence or Sacramento and still find that, but in Texas, Austin is the only game in town. Considering how much population there is nearby, it's a tremendous advantage.
I've spent a lot of time in Austin and the downtown certainly has room on it's streets for bus rapid transit or streetcars. There are enough four lane, one way streets for two
competing bus rapid transit or streetcar systems. But with absolutely nothing constraining sprawl and a Texas DOT that is openly hostile to anything other than new beltways, it would require a sea change for me to imagine enough transit construction that would allow Austin to have a CBD high rise district that would give the city a "skyline". But maybe I'll be surprised.