San Antonio in 50 years? (Houston, Dallas: neighborhoods, living, military)

[Merovee]

I heard on TPR the other day that Texas is forecast to double in population in 50 years. Austin on the other hand in 30 years. Sadly they did not mention SA but I am sure the information is out there.

So knowing this how do you see SA in 50 years?

I see SA as being connected to Austin forming one city more or less.

I also see there not being an international border so near but rather a North American Union with San Antonio-Austin playing a great part in that more so than Houston or Dallas who have seemed to have already grown. They might still have room but we have more blank space that could be utilized especially in new green technology and eco industries. We also have an underdeveloped population that is prime for new skill growth.

I do not want to see us grow, or see more of the natural land developed, especially the Hill Country, so maybe the growth can take place that side of the I-35 corridor to preserve the HC. In either case we are going to grow so must now plan, not that we have great input, but once ideas are born they do not die. I say lets make an alliance with Austin because in this new era cities are going to compete and we need strong friends and perhaps our differences can compliment each other.

[L210]

If San Antonio continues to be so opposed to a good public transportation infrastructure, I see us waiting in a lot of traffic with a lot of smog and having to pay for emissions tests.

[Merovee]

That sounds more like a 5 year prediction lol

[L210]

True. It's amazing that people insist on spending millions on new roads, but don't want to spend the same amount of money on public transportation which has more capacity.

I will predict that San Antonio will be less diverse. The percentage of Hispanics in the U.S. is already predicted to double and SA has been following the trend of the Hispanic population outgrowing the Caucasian population. I also predict that most Caucasian families will continue to move towards and outside of 1604. This could all not matter if interracial marriages continue to increase.

[majormadmax]

I think the growth in San Antonio will slow down due to water access. It will get to a point where the aquifer will not be able to sustain the number of people living here, and some government restriction will intervene.

I also don't think SA and Austin will merge into some sort of "super city," the area between them may be developed to the point where you'll see more neighborhoods and strip malls than grasslands; but that's it. Downtown to downtown is nearly 80 miles, and there ain't no way that the two cities will connect at that level. Even Jacksonville, Florida, the largest city in land area in the contiguous United States, is only 885 square miles (roughly 30 miles from border to border in both directions).

We're sure to grow, but I think it will steadily slow down as the city starts to reach its saturation point and people start moving elsewhere.

[L210]

The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area covers several counties. I think it's likely for us to become San Antonio-Austin metropolitan if a commuter line is built going up I-35.

[Lee W.]

We WISH population growth in the area would respond to lack of usable water access! Our state government has not show any interest at all in slowing down the over-development in this limited water region...just the opposite! At least Hills of Castle Rock has not happened...but that was more due to the economy and a lawsuit, I suspect...although not getting water from S.A. was a factor also.

[Merovee]

Originally Posted by meisha210

The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area covers several counties. I think it's likely for us to become San Antonio-Austin metropolitan if a commuter line is built going up I-35.

Exactly, a conurbation would have been a better term. Of course other cities like New Braunfels and San Marcos would also grow and they would all meet to form a continuous area which if one wanted, could travel through the bottom, and just go through neighborhood after neighborhood to get from one end of SA all the way to Austin. More so though than that is that each of these cities will rely on each other so someone in one could easily work in another one.

Water usage and rights will definitely play a part in global politics....we already fight viciously over them now on the local level. Dread the future.

[SnappyBob]

Originally Posted by majormadmax

I think the growth in San Antonio will slow down due to water access. It will get to a point where the aquifer will not be able to sustain the number of people living here, and some government restriction will intervene.

I also don't think SA and Austin will merge into some sort of "super city," the area between them may be developed to the point where you'll see more neighborhoods and strip malls than grasslands; but that's it. Downtown to downtown is nearly 80 miles, and there ain't no way that the two cities will connect at that level. Even Jacksonville, Florida, the largest city in land area in the contiguous United States, is only 885 square miles (roughly 30 miles from border to border in both directions).

We're sure to grow, but I think it will steadily slow down as the city starts to reach its saturation point and people start moving elsewhere.

Being a card carrying pessimist, I'll go a bit further to predict that greed and corruption will at some point poison the aquifer and the whole place with be a desolate, useless chunk of has-been property. With an NFL team.

[Dopo]

Nobody knows what is going to be like, but there’s a few factors to keep in mind:
- Growth is just a prediction, it can change, just like in St. Louis Missouri has a negative growth rate right now.
- People live where water is available, and there’s not much water in South Texas. So that might be the 1st factor to affect growth.
- Corporations go, where there’s a large pool of educated people (oversupply of educated people) something that San Antonio doesn’t have, that will affect growth.
- I would expect the military population/presence to have the exact same growth rate as it’s had in the last 50 years.
I think that the one thing that could have a huge impact in San Antonio, is if San Antonio decides to become the “Solar Energy capital” of the United States. There’s plenty of sunlight all year and plenty of “useless” land South of San Antonio to easily become a Solar Energy mecca.