Future (Phoenix, Glendale, Chandler: apartments, condominiums, crime)

[Phxguy]

What do you think Phoenix will have or get within say 50 years? What do you think we will lose?

[Saradance]

I hope Phoenix has a better economy. I have an MBA and there is not much work here unless you want to work in retail for very low pay.

[synapse]

Originally Posted by Phxguy

What do you think Phoenix will have or get within say 50 years? What do you think we will lose?

Will have: A more developed downtown with more urban amenities; an expanded light rail system; status as the fourth largest city in the country; reasonably well managed water resources; a new stadium for the Cubs.

Will lose: Yet more farmland and thus will have more sprawl despite the more developed downtown; ease of traffic along the 101; speed cameras.

[Howard Roark]

I think we will have individual transportation in fifty years with aircars powered by nuclear fusion cells. We'll probably have light rail up through Paradise Valley, west toward Goodyear/Avondale, east to Apache Junction and southeast to Chandler\Queen Creek.

I think there will be an end to freeways when aircars become popular enough. Kind of like Jetsons transport.

There will be a lot more tall buildings in downtown Phoenix. Not so much Tempe, as education will be mostly by homeschool and computer.

Tourism, biotech and information technology economy will be the main industries. A lot of people will work from home. Many people will have two homes: Phoenix and somewhere to cool off in the summer. A lot of Phoenicians will have multi citizenships - of several nations. Nations will be competing for citizens as the birth rate continues downward. This concept of competing nations will drive taxation down while improving government services and efficiencies.

Gerontology will be a thriving science as average lifespans 50 years from now will be 110, and age 80 will be the new fifty.

[Ponderosa]

Will have: City of Phoenix will have large majority Hispanic population.
Deserted (more than today) downtown as businesses and residents flee ever-growing inner city slums for suburbs
Fewer people than today (again Phoenix not the metro)
Two significant alternate commercial airports - one east, one west
Major soccer stadium downtown

Will lose: COP will lose political power to suburbs.
Diamondbacks and Suns (to Glendale)
Glendale will lose Coyotes to (who cares).

[Phxguy]

Originally Posted by Howard Roark

I think we will have individual transportation in fifty years with aircars powered by nuclear fusion cells. We'll probably have light rail up through Paradise Valley, west toward Goodyear/Avondale, east to Apache Junction and southeast to Chandler\Queen Creek.

I think there will be an end to freeways when aircars become popular enough. Kind of like Jetsons transport.

There will be a lot more tall buildings in downtown Phoenix. Not so much Tempe, as education will be mostly by homeschool and computer.

Tourism, biotech and information technology economy will be the main industries. A lot of people will work from home. Many people will have two homes: Phoenix and somewhere to cool off in the summer. A lot of Phoenicians will have multi citizenships - of several nations. Nations will be competing for citizens as the birth rate continues downward. This concept of competing nations will drive taxation down while improving government services and efficiencies.

Gerontology will be a thriving science as average lifespans 50 years from now will be 110, and age 80 will be the new fifty.

I like your comment. And lets hope that most of this comes true. If we somehow can solve our transportation methods (thus have a more dense downwtown), water( won't be an issue until Phoenix probably reaches 3 million in 2030), and pollution. More diverse cultures are moving here, downtown is growing, education will pick up soon if the bill is passed, and transportation options are becoming much wider. But the sprawl could be horrible by then, along with slums, and crime. On the other hand if the education picks up then there'll be less crime on the streets as far as youth wise.

[miamiman]

Phoenix will still have an extremely mediocre downtown for a city of its size, although the Jackson Street Entertainment District (JSED) will likely be finished. There will be few more buildings, no higher than Chase Tower. There may also be another mid-rise condo tower in Central Phoenix, as well.

Some neighborhoods will become densified similar to the type of densification that they are seeing out in Los Angeles. Residents, like me, will fight tooth and nail to retain Phoenix's suburban character. Population of Phoenix in 2060: 2.1 Million.

Suburbs: More taco bell styled stucco boxes stretching out in all directions. A lot of current stucco boxes will be torn down for new stucco boxes. Cities like Buckeye, Surprise, Queen Creek and Gilbert will BOOM like crazy. New Urbanism and transit-oriented development will continue in popular with the square-glasses wearing hipsters.
Total population of other Valley cities in 2060: 6 million

Total population of Phoenix metro: 8.1 million

Phoenix will still be the 5th most populous city. I don't see how Phoenix will exceed Houston or Chicago in the next 50 years.

Phoenix will become A LOT more diverse especially with Hispanics and Asians. As a result we will see the elimination of the far right nutcases who run the Valley now. We'll see our gun laws repealed and the Valley return to a place more indicative of what a 21st century city should be like.

[synapse]

One of the Centerpoint condos in Tempe will be completed, finished, and turned into a mix of apartments and condominiums popular among ASU students; the other tower will be demolished and turned into a park.

[GQpilot3]

I hope it takes a page out of dallas' book and developes areas like uptown (mixed use walkable areas). A skyline simular to san diego's would be nice as well. Hopefully the economy will diversify because I like Phoenix and would hate to see it become the next detroit.

[twiggy]

Phoenix will have built a beautiful man made lake and canal system in downtown. It will have a boardwalk and transport through the canals as well. Restaurants and small businesses will dot the boardwalks and canals. People will start buying condo's and spending money again. We will invest taxes in higher education and incentives for small businesses. We will use beautiful oranges, yellows and whites instead of beige as a color pallet. (he he)
They will have large fans with cooling stations for pedestrians, and mini markets and deli's. They will be powered by windmills and solar electricity. Great transportation with light rail all over. We will attract visitors because of the large fans. lol We will have splendid write ups in major magazines talking about our amazing turnaround after the recession. We will have proven that we can rebound and prevent a future recession by refining downtown and preventing useless sprawl and promoting education and a healthy lifestyle.


If the laws keep passing in favor of easy, unrestricted gun ownership and less education it will be a different scenario. We will then be a haven for gangs from all over. It will become a hot, unwelcome L.A. Criminals will be attracted to the city for lack of gun control and drugs will become our major source of income. The Cartel will set up shop in Phoenix and you won't be able to go downtown unless you wear a certain color. Malls will shut down due to violence and gang issues, the police dept. will become overwhelmed. Everyone will flock to man made mini cities outside of Phoenix to escape the crime, and find decent charter schools. Phoenix businesses will lose money and move to outlying areas or move out altogether. They will then turn the high rises into large housing boxes for the poor and that will be that. Useless sprawl will abound and we will find ourselves in another recession before we can even completely recover from this one. Good people will move out and bad people will move in. Prescott will become larger and replace Phoenix as a decent city to visit in AZ. Urbanizing Prescott will bum out the current residents but will excite people from California . lol

By the way, great post, and very fun to post on!