What sounds better: San Austin or Austin-tonio? If the region stretching from Austin to San Antonio maintains its current pace of growth in high-end jobs, central Texas could be the next great metropolis in the United States. The area could play an outsized importance for economic activity, similar to other regional centers in the U.S.
Joel Kotkin of NewGeography.com says the area could become like Research Triangle and Silicon Valley.
“What you’re seeing is the kind of corridor that developed in other parts of the country,” Kotkin says. “It’s a little bit bigger but after all, it’s Texas so it has to be a little bit bigger.”
The growth isn’t limited to Austin-San Antonio, Kotkin says. With the $5 billion widening of the Panama Canal, the port of Houston is poised to become a major cargo entryway to challenge those in Long Beach and New York.
Dallas is getting in on the action too – particularly when it comes to the financial industry.
“Dallas has probably been the growth star when it comes to big cities in America for quite a while now,” Kotkin says. “One of the things I found really interesting is if you put Dallas and Ft Worth together they have more jobs in finance than Chicago.”
And the changing urban landscape of Texas doesn’t just affect bragging rights.
“What I think you’re going to get is an increasing urban culture in Texas,” Kotkin says. “The state will increasingly be dominated by these four large cities, or these four large regions, when you want to put it that way. That’s going to be the future of Texas. It’s going to dominate Texas culture, it’s going to dominate Texas politics.”
Post by George Economos.
