[Obadno]

[QUOTE=forward looking;10111068]San Antonio, tx has a fairly, nice skyline.
No commerce , no trade- no money, no industry, for skyscrapers in the desert. There are no industrial city-centers in the southwest like the northeast has. There is a shortage of raw materials too. Coal, copper, iron, water
/QUOTE]

Incorrect phoenix has a lot of manufacturing. It's entirely due to the time period in which these cities developed where there is no need to build up instead of out.

Phoenix and LA are just now tipping the balance between sprawl and height with far more developments now coming to the core (mostly housing still) than before because the city is so sprawled now that there is a legitimate economic incentive to build centrally at higher density then just pushing out another 15 minute commute further.

Most companies as another person said that built these famous tall buildings were corporate HQ's and most companies still prefer suburban campuses rather than a single 60-100 story HQ tower like they did 50 years ago. Why? one cause its cheaper and two because their workforce is not centralized downtown so it makes more sense to sit close to a highway to pull from a larger pool of workers.