Infrastructure & Cities

The aerotropolis

January 19, 2011

Global

January 19, 2011

Global

As transport and logistics companies gather around the world's biggest airports and their related transport corridors, a new urban form is emerging: the airport city. Professor John Kasarda of the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School argues that airports are set to shape urban development in the decades to come. "Show me the busiest airports today and I'll show you the great urban centres of tomorrow," he says.

Professor Kasarda, who has co-authored a book on the concept (Aerotropolis: The Way We'll Live Next), points to a shift in many places where airports no longer simply serve the city but have themselves become airport cities. "They're taking on all the functions of a modern metropolitan centre," he says. "Upscale restaurants, casinos, hotels, trade and exhibition complexes and financial units are all locating around the airport, and this is creating a second downtown."

"The aerotropolis should bring together urban and regional planning, and business strategy and site planning," Professor Kasarda continues, "so airports function more efficiently and the region itself is more economically efficient, aesthetically appealing and environmentally sustainable."

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