Can a city grow too fast? Is Austin in Danger? (Houston: homes, buying)

[MedicalPartisan]

What happens when a city grows too fast? And at what point does it subside? I see all these articles about Austin being the #1 fastest growing city and how it's currently among the coolest and trendiest places to move. With all this praise (overrated or not), will it ever slow down? I'm already learning many of the downfalls in regard to the influx in people (ie. 35).

I understand that many Austinites feel the city is already growing too fast, but I wouldn't say dangerously fast yet, would you? I believe many feel this way simply because it's their home and they don't want the potential for anything "bad" to happen. But at what point is the speed of growth actually dangerous? What are the repercussions? Can Austin handle all these people? Is there substantial room for expansion? And perhaps this isn't even a real issue; I don't live in Austin so I don't know. I am curious, though.

[johnrex62]

I remember back in the 70's and 80's when the city quit issuing building permits because growth was so great. This is not a new topic and I don't see much has changed over the last 40 years. We get spurts and lags of building activity and hot areas that cool for a while and explode again.

[Trainwreck20]

Austin has been growing at a similar rate for something like 100 years, if you look at it percentage-wise.....

[llkltk]

Originally Posted by MedicalPartisan

What happens when a city grows too fast? And at what point does it subside? I see all these articles about Austin being the #1 fastest growing city and how it's currently among the coolest and trendiest places to move. With all this praise (overrated or not), will it ever slow down? I'm already learning many of the downfalls in regard to the influx in people (ie. 35).

I understand that many Austinites feel the city is already growing too fast, but I wouldn't say dangerously fast yet, would you? I believe many feel this way simply because it's their home and they don't want the potential for anything "bad" to happen. But at what point is the speed of growth actually dangerous? What are the repercussions? Can Austin handle all these people? Is there substantial room for expansion? And perhaps this isn't even a real issue; I don't live in Austin so I don't know. I am curious, though.

I'm worried about the rising home prices. I mean in SW Austin, homes have appreciated 100K in two years in areas like Avana. It seems like there is risk involved in buying in there!

[mth1954]

Lots of cities in the United States have had times where they grew faster than Austin.

In the 1890 census Los Angeles California had a little more tham 50,000 people. A mere 40 years later, in 1930 Los Angeles had over 1.2 million people.

From 1930 to 1970, Houston went from 290,000 to 1.2 million. In the 40 years since 1970 Houston has added right at a million people, give or take a few.

Chicago's population went from 298,000 in 1870 to 2.1 million 1910.

Detroit went from 280,000 in 1900 to 1.6 million in 1940.

From 1970 until 2010, Austin's population increased by approximately 540,000, from 251,000 to 790,000.

Austin is growing fast but not unusually fast or nearly as fast when compared with other big cities that have been big cities for quite a long period of time.

[wehotex]

Originally Posted by mth1954

Lots of cities in the United States have had times where they grew faster than Austin.

In the 1890 census Los Angeles California had a little more tham 50,000 people. A mere 40 years later, in 1930 Los Angeles had over 1.2 million people.

From 1930 to 1970, Houston went from 290,000 to 1.2 million. In the 40 years since 1970 Houston has added right at a million people, give or take a few.

Chicago's population went from 298,000 in 1870 to 2.1 million 1910.

Detroit went from 280,000 in 1900 to 1.6 million in 1940.

From 1970 until 2010, Austin's population increased by approximately 540,000, from 251,000 to 790,000.

Austin is growing fast but not unusually fast or nearly as fast when compared with other big cities that have been big cities for quite a long period of time.

Yes, but they had a lot more room to build out and natural resources were plentiful. Water and land are finite resources. Expanding Austin more into the west is harder because of the terrain. The traffic and lack of infrastructure is another topic that has been heavily discussed on this forum.

[Shredding_Gnar78]

being on the road with the maniac commuters in Austin is dangerous

just crazy, stupid impatient drivers all around... the roll of dice is considerable

don't value life much? head on down to west Parmer at 6:00pm M-F

[scm53]

Originally Posted by wehotex

Yes, but they had a lot more room to build out and natural resources were plentiful. Water and land are finite resources. Expanding Austin more into the west is harder because of the terrain. The traffic and lack of infrastructure is another topic that has been heavily discussed on this forum.

The terrain to the west is no harder today than it was when Cat Mountain, River Place, Steiner Ranch, Barton Creek, or a dozen more places were built. And in the other three directions, there is basically no limit. As far as water, the front page of Sunday's AAS featured just one creative solution. There are others. And finally, the infrastructure stumbling block has always been the City of Austin and a hardcore set of myopic voters. As growth moves beyond their ability to control it, look for that to be less of a problem.

The rumors of Austin's demise are greatly exaggerated.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by wehotex

Yes, but they had a lot more room to build out and natural resources were plentiful. Water and land are finite resources. Expanding Austin more into the west is harder because of the terrain. The traffic and lack of infrastructure is another topic that has been heavily discussed on this forum.

Austin is way less geographically constrained than many big cities (Boston, New York, Chicago : water).

[Eastcoasting]

The only real limitations I can see are the issues surrounding water.

Other than that people will build on lots that were previously considered unusable, St John, USVI comes to mind, there are some harrowing driveways to otherwise wonderful villas with killer views and terraced gardens. Traffic will continue to snarl and people will adjust, leave earlier, leave later, tele commute a day or so a week...

Water.