Aerotropolis

Last updated
Taoyuan Aerotropolis is an example of a large urban planning development at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan City, Taiwan. Tao Yuan Hang Kong Cheng Kong Pai Tu .jpg
Taoyuan Aerotropolis is an example of a large urban planning development at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan City, Taiwan.

An aerotropolis is a metropolitan subregion whose infrastructure, land use, and economy are centered on an airport. [1] It fuses the terms "aero-" (aviation) and "metropolis". Like the traditional metropolis made up of a central city core and its outlying commuter-linked suburbs, the aerotropolis consists of 1) the airport's aeronautical, logistics, and commercial infrastructure forming a multimodal, multifunctional airport city at its core and 2) outlying corridors and clusters of businesses and associated residential developments that feed off each other and their accessibility to the airport. [2] [3] The word aerotropolis was first used by New York commercial artist Nicholas DeSantis, whose drawing of a skyscraper rooftop airport in the city was presented in the November 1939 issue of Popular Science . [4] The term was repurposed by air commerce researcher John D. Kasarda in 2000 based on his prior research on airport-driven economic development. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Contents

Airports, connectivity, and development

According to Kasarda, airports have evolved as drivers of business location and urban development in the 21st century in the same way as highways did in the 20th century, railroads in the 19th century, and seaports in the 18th century. The engine of the aerotropolis is the airport and its air routes, which offer firms speedy connectivity to their suppliers, customers, and enterprise partners. Some aerotropolis businesses are more dependent on distant suppliers or customers halfway around the world than those located nearby. As economies become increasingly globalized, time-sensitive, and reliant on air commerce for trade in goods and services, the speed and agility aviation provides to long-distance movement of people and goods generate competitive advantages for firms and places. In the aerotropolis model, time and cost of connectivity replace space and distance as the primary metrics shaping development, with "economies of speed" becoming as salient for the competitiveness of firms and places as economies of scale and economies of scope. [10] [11] In this model, it is not how far but how fast widely separated firms and places can connect.

The aerotropolis encompasses aviation-dependent businesses and the commercial services that support them and the multitude of air travelers who pass through the airport annually. [2] [10] These businesses include, among others, high-tech [12] and advanced manufacturing, logistics, and e-commerce fulfillment; high-value perishables and biomeds; destination retail, sports, entertainment, and medical/wellness complexes; hotels; conference, trade, and exhibition centers; and offices for businesspeople who travel frequently by air or engage in global commerce. [10] [13] Business parks, logistics parks, R&D parks, time-critical distribution centers, and information technology complexes as well as hotel, conference, and entertainment venues are most frequently visible around major new airports on metropolitan peripheries where there is sufficient land and along the transportation corridors radiating from them. [2] As increasing numbers of aviation-oriented firms and commercial service providers cluster around and outward from airports, the aerotropolis is becoming a major urban destination where air travelers and locals alike work, shop, meet, exchange knowledge, conduct business, eat, sleep, and are entertained, often without going more than 15 minutes from the airport. [14] The outcome is a new form of transit-oriented development centered on runways and along their connecting surface transportation arteries.

The aerotropolis is more, though, than clusters and corridors of airport-linked commercial, industrial, and logistics facilities. It also consists of living urban places that must be planned and designed as appealing environmental and social realms. [1] [15]

Some aerotropolises have arisen spontaneously, responding to organic market forces with a lack of planning, contributing to sprawl while creating highway congestion, pollution, and other negative externalities. Applying principles of smart urban growth and sustainability are essential to the formation of a successful aerotropolis, [16] [17] as is stakeholder alignment. [18] [19] Governance entities aligning airport management, airport-surrounding communities, and city and regional officials with local business and economic development leaders should implement aerotropolis planning to achieve greater economic efficiencies along with more attractive and sustainable development. [20] [18]

Criticisms of the concept

A major criticism is the question of whether oil will stay relatively inexpensive and widely available in the future or whether a downturn in global oil production ("peak oil") will adversely affect aviation and thus the aerotropolis. [21] [22] Others have criticized the aerotropolis model for overstating the number and types of goods that travel by air. While many types of high-value goods like electronics tend to be shipped by air, larger, bulkier items like cars and grain do not. Those who point this out suggest that the relationship between seaports, airports, and rail facilities should be studied in more depth. [23] Further criticisms of the aerotropolis include loss of farmland and forests, eviction and/or the exclusion of local residents and communities from the economic benefits of the aerotropolis, and locking in high-carbon infrastructure for decades to come. [24] [25]

Social critics argue that the aerotropolis favors the interests of business over that of people and that its mixed-use commercial/residential developments typically lack urban ambience. [26] Some have questioned why people would ever want to live next to an airport, given aircraft noise. [27] [28] Still, others claim that while there are cases where the aerotropolis concept has worked well (e.g., Amsterdam Schiphol and Dallas-Fort Worth airport areas), [29] [30] it has often failed to live up to expectations when applied elsewhere. [31]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wide-body aircraft</span> Airliner with two aisles

A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft and in the largest cases as a jumbo jet, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is 5 to 6 m. In the typical wide-body economy cabin, passengers are seated seven to ten abreast, allowing a total capacity of 200 to 850 passengers. Seven-abreast aircraft typically seat 160 to 260 passengers, eight-abreast 250 to 380, nine- and ten-abreast 350 to 480. The largest wide-body aircraft are over 6 m (20 ft) wide, and can accommodate up to eleven passengers abreast in high-density configurations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taoyuan International Airport</span> Main airport serving Taipei, Taiwan

Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport — also sometimes referred to as Taipei-Taoyuan International Airport — is an international airport situated in Taoyuan City that serves northern Taiwan, including the capital city Taipei. Located in Dayuan District, Taoyuan, about 40 km (25 mi) west of Taipei, the airport is the busiest and largest in Taiwan. In 2016, it was ranked the best airport for its size in the Asia-Pacific region by Airports Council International.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cochin International Airport</span> International airport serving Kochi, Kerala, India

Cochin International Airport is an international airport serving the city of Kochi, Kerala, in southwestern India. It is located at Nedumbassery, about 25 km (16 mi) northeast of the city center. The airport is the first of its kind to be developed under a public-private partnership (PPP) model in India. This project was funded by nearly 10,000 non-resident Indians from 32 countries. It is the busiest and largest airport in the state of Kerala and the fourth busiest airport in India. As of 2024, the airport caters to more than 63% of the total air passenger traffic in Kerala. It is the fifth-busiest airport in India in terms of international traffic, and the eighth-busiest overall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern California Logistics Airport</span> Airport

Southern California Logistics Airport, also known as Victorville Airport, is a public airport located in the city of Victorville in San Bernardino County, California, approximately 50 mi (80 km) north of San Bernardino. Prior to its civil usage, the facility was George Air Force Base, from 1941 to 1992 a United States Air Force flight training facility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laguindingan Airport</span> Commercial airport serving Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental, Philippines

Laguindingan Airport, also referred to as Laguindingan International Airport, is an international airport in Northern Mindanao that serves the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Marawi, as well as the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte and Bukidnon in the Philippines. The airport is Mindanao's second-busiest airport after Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narrow-body aircraft</span> Airliner with a single aisle

A narrow-body aircraft or single-aisle aircraft is an airliner arranged along a single aisle, permitting up to 6-abreast seating in a cabin less than 4 metres (13 ft) in width. In contrast, a wide-body aircraft is a larger airliner usually configured with multiple aisles and a fuselage diameter of more than 5 metres (16 ft), allowing at least seven-abreast seating and often more travel classes.

Dubai South is a city that was under construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in 2006, planned to be an economic zone to support a number of activities including logistics, aviation, commercial, exhibition, humanitarian, residential and other related businesses around Al Maktoum International Airport with the planned annual capacity of 12 million tonnes of cargo and 160 million passengers. The construction area is two times the size of Hong Kong Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global TransPark</span>

The North Carolina Global TransPark (GTP) is a 2,500 acre, multi-modal industrial/airport site in Eastern North Carolina. As an agency of the State of North Carolina, the GTP is considered a key engine for driving the economy of Eastern North Carolina. The park offers access to multi-modal transportation options: air, rail, highways, and North Carolina's two international ports. The GTP is part of an economic development initiative in eastern North Carolina intended to spur transition in the region from an agricultural base to one of skilled labor and industrial manufacturing. Industries targeted by the GTP are aerospace, defense and logistics sectors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John D. Kasarda</span>

John D. Kasarda is an American academic and airport business consultant focused on aviation-driven economic development. He is a faculty member at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School, the CEO of Aerotropolis Business Concepts LLC and the President of the Aerotropolis Institute in China. He was the founding editor-in-chief of Logistics, an open-access journal published by MDPI. Kasarda is often referred to as "father of the aerotropolis".

Airport City is a model for urban development that focuses on improving the livability of the areas within and immediately surrounding the airport in support of a variety of economic activities. An Airport City is differentiated from a "city airport" by its design, which includes both the inside and outside areas. It offers most of the amenities found in a typical urban center.

The Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ), located in Incheon, South Korea is a Korean Free Economic Zone that consists of the three regions of Songdo, Cheongna, and the island of Yeongjong and has a total area of 51,739 acres (209.38 km2). The goal of the IFEZ is to transform these three areas into hubs for logistics, international business, leisure, and tourism for the Northeast Asian region. Incheon's Free Economic Zone was officially designated by the Korean government in August 2003. IFEZ is planned to be a self-contained living and business district featuring air and sea transportation, a logistics complex, an international business center, financial services, residences, schools and hospitals, and shopping and entertainment centers.

The Detroit Region Aerotropolis is a four-community, two-county public-private economic development partnership focused on driving corporate expansion and new investments around Wayne County Airport Authority's airports: Detroit Metropolitan Airport and Willow Run Airport. The Detroit Region Aerotropolis promotes greenfield expansion in Southeast Michigan, offering development-ready land centered in an expansive network of transportation infrastructure including two airports, three major interstates, five Class-A rail lines, and the American Center for Mobility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taoyuan Aerotropolis</span> Planned city in Taiwan

Taoyuan Aerotropolis is a large urban planning development at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan City, Taiwan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GMR Group</span> Indian conglomerate based in New Delhi

GMR Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in New Delhi. The group was founded in 1978 by Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao and comprises several companies including GMR Infrastructure, GMR Energy, GMR Airports, GMR Enterprises. Employing the public-private partnership model, the Group has implemented several infrastructure projects in India. The Group also has a global presence with infrastructure operating assets and projects in several countries including Philippines and Greece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andal Aerotropolis</span> Aerotropolis in West Bengal, India

Sujalaam Skycity, popularly known as Andal Aerotropolis is India's first aerotropolis, located at Andal, in the industrial city of Durgapur in the Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal. It is also the first greenfield aerotropolis, developed around the Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport. It has been developed in association with Singapore's Changi Airports International (CAI) and constructed by Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited (BAPL). The airport city is constructed around an old airfield RAF Station Andal and used by the RAF in Andal, and also by the USAAF during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Lansing</span>

Port Lansing is a United States Port of Entry located at Capital Region International Airport in DeWitt Township, adjacent to Lansing, Michigan. The Port allows passengers and cargo to clear customs through a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Federal Inspection Station.

The United States has an extensive air transportation network. In 2013, there were 86 airports in the U.S. that annually handled over 1,000,000 passengers each. The civil airline industry is entirely privately owned and has been largely deregulated since 1978, while most major airports are publicly owned. The three largest airlines in the world by passengers carried are U.S.-based; American Airlines is number one after its 2013 acquisition by US Airways. Of the world's 50 busiest passenger airports, 16 are in the United States, including the top five and the busiest, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. In terms of cargo, in 2015, eight of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's second-busiest, Memphis International Airport, just behind Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong. Private aircraft are also used for medical emergencies, government agencies, large businesses, and individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport</span> Domestic airport in Durgapur, West Bengal, India

Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport, also known as Durgapur Airport, is a domestic airport mainly serving the cities of Durgapur and Asansol. It is located at the Andal region of Durgapur in Paschim Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is named after the renowned Bengali poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam. The airport is roughly 15 km from Durgapur’s City Centre and 25 km from Asansol’s City Bus Terminus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Sydney Airport</span> Future airport to serve Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Western Sydney International Airport, also known as Western Sydney Airport or Badgerys Creek Airport, is an international airport under construction within the suburbs of Luddenham and Badgerys Creek, New South Wales, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doncaster Sheffield Airport railway station</span> Proposed railway station in England

Doncaster Sheffield Airport railway station was a proposed railway station in the Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA) terminal area to allow an interchange of services between rail and air. The area used to have a railway station called Finningley to the north-east of the airfield, and was used by personnel from the former Royal Air Force base that the airport is sited on. However, the proposed station would have been a new-build facility on a new section of railway connecting the airport with the East Coast Main Line (ECML).

References

  1. 1 2 Kasarda, John D. (2019-04-15). "Aerotropolis" (PDF). In Orum, Anthony M (ed.). The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies (1 ed.). Wiley. pp. 1–7. doi:10.1002/9781118568446.eurs0436. ISBN   9781118568453. S2CID   243453488.
  2. 1 2 3 Kasarda, John D. (21 April 2013). "Airport cities: The evolution - Airport World Magazine". Archived from the original on 2015-09-04. Retrieved 2015-08-27.
  3. Kasarda, John D., 3-D Aerotropolis Schematic with Airport City Center. http://www.aerotropolis.com/files/AerotropolisSchematicWithCore.jpg Archived 2017-09-09 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Popular Science. Bonnier Corporation.
  5. Kasarda, John D. (1991). "AN INDUSTRIAL AVIATION COMPLEX FOR THE FUTURE". Urban Land. 50 (8): 16–20. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  6. Kasarda, John D. (December 1998). "Time-Based Competition & Industrial Location in the Fast Century". Real Estate Issues. 23 (4): 24. Archived from the original on 2015-09-30. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  7. Kasarda, John D. "Logistics & the Rise of the Aerotropolis". Real Estate Issues, Vol. 25 (Winter 2000/2001): pp. 43–48.
  8. Kasarda, John D. (2000). Aerotropolis: Airport-Driven Urban Development. ULI on the Future: Cities in the 21st Century. Washington, D.C.: Urban Land Institute.
  9. Kasarda, John D.; Lindsay, Greg (2011). Aerotropolis: The Way We'll Live Next. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. ISBN   978-0374533519.
  10. 1 2 3 Kasarda, John D. (November 2014). "Gateway Airports: Commercial Magnets and Critical Business Infrastructure" (PDF). McGraw Hill Financial Global Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 2015-08-27.
  11. Kasarda, John D. (2013). "Aerotropolis: Business Mobility and Urban Competitiveness in the 21st Century". In Klaus, Benesch (ed.). Cultures and Mobility. Heidelberg, Germany: Universitatsverlag Winter. pp. 9–20.
  12. Xiao, Fan; Wang, Jiaoe; Xiong, Meicheng; Mo, Huihui (January 2024). "Does spatiotemporal heterogeneity matter? Air transport and the rise of high-tech industry in China". Applied Geography. 162: 103148. doi:10.1016/j.apgeog.2023.103148.
  13. Appold, Stephen J.; Kasarda, John D. (2013-05-01). "The Airport City Phenomenon: Evidence from Large US Airports" (PDF). Urban Studies. 50 (6): 1239–1259. doi:10.1177/0042098012464401. ISSN   0042-0980. S2CID   154749205.
  14. "About the Aerotropolis," http://www.aerotropolis.com/airportCities/about-the-aerotropolis Archived 2011-07-31 at the Wayback Machine
  15. Eveland, Jennifer; Tng, Serene (2019). "Global gateways, local hubs" (PDF). Magazine. No. 11. pp. 16–23.
  16. Freestone, R. (2009). Planning, Sustainability and Airport-Led Urban Development. International Planning Studies, 14(2), 161-176. doi : 10.1080/13563470903021217
  17. Banai, Reza (January 2017). "The aerotropolis: Urban sustainability perspectives from the regional city" (PDF). Journal of Transport and Land Use. 10 (1): 357–373. doi: 10.5198/jtlu.2016.889 . ISSN   1938-7849 . Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  18. 1 2 Kasarda, John D.; Appold, Stephen (2014). "Planning a Competitive Aerotropolis" (PDF). In Peoples, James H. Jr. (ed.). The Economics of International Airline Transport. Advances in Airline Economics. Vol. 4. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. pp. 281–308. doi:10.1108/S2212-160920140000004010. ISBN   978-1-78350-639-2. ISSN   2212-1609 . Retrieved 2019-07-12.
  19. Kasarda, John D.; Canon, Michael H. (September 2016). "Creating an Effective Aerotropolis Master Plan" (PDF). Regional Economic Review. 5.
  20. Appold, Stephen; Kasarda, John D. "Love thy neighbour". Airport World Magazine. Archived from the original on 25 September 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  21. Plumer, Bradford (27 August 2008). "The End Of Aviation". The New Republic. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
  22. Chohan, Usman W. (2019-06-30). "The concept of the aerotropolis: A review" (PDF). CASS Working Papers on Economics and National Affairs, EC006UC. Rochester, NY. SSRN   3412543.
  23. Charles, M. B., Barnes, P., Ryan, N., & Clayton, J. (2007). Airport Futures: Towards a Critique of the Aerotropolis Model. Futures, 39 (9), 1009-1028.
  24. Bridger, Rose (8 May 2015). "Aerotropolis alert! Airport mega-projects driving environmental destruction worldwide". The Ecologist. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  25. "Global Anti-Aerotropolis Movement (GAAM)". antiaero.org. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  26. Moore, Rowan (2013-03-03). "Aerotropolis:the city of the future?". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  27. "Aerotropolitan ambitions". The Economist. 2015-03-12. ISSN   0013-0613 . Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  28. Shepard, Wade (2016-04-11). "Why You Should Want To Live Right Next To An Airport". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  29. "Aerotropolis: modelling cities after airports". Airport Technology. 2018-01-22. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  30. Kiger, Patrick J. (2016-10-27). "Evolution of an Aerotropolis". Urban Land Magazine. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
  31. Hirsh, Max (March 2017). "What's Wrong with the Aerotropolis Model? | Site Selection Magazine". Site Selection. Retrieved 2019-07-08.