Contributing Editor Foreword
An Urban Phenomenon
A catalytic convergence of aviation, digitisation, globalisation and time-based competition is creating a new economic landscape with major airports driving and shaping business location and urban development in the 21st century as much as highways did in the 20th century, railroads in the 19th and rivers and ports in the 18th century.
As airports and their immediate environs increasingly offer retail, consumer services, logistics, business office, convention, hospitality, culture and entertainment venues, they are evolving into cities in their own right where travellers, airport employees and residents work, trade, shop, eat, sleep and are entertained. The 21st century airport city as an urban realm, commercial destination and branded location has clearly arrived.
This book takes a major step forward in describing the rise of 21st century airport cities and the broader aerotropolises where the airport city constitutes the multi-modal, commercial core.
It starts with an overview of airport city and aerotropolis development around the world and why these constitute the way forward for airports and the regions they serve. It presents airport city pioneers - Dallas/Fort Worth, Incheon, Kuala Lumpur and Pittsburgh.
Cases are also provided for major up and coming airports - Beijing, Dayton and Helsinki. Also covered are Atlanta, Denver and Memphis, which are pursuing broader aerotropolis development strategies to bolster their region's economies.
Dynamic small and mid-size airports following the airport city model are likewise highlighted. Included here are Tancredo Neves, Dayton and O.R.Tambo airports.
A third section of the book describes some of the organisations involved in the design and development of airport cities. The book's concluding chapter wraps up by providing an overview of what we have learned and how information has been disseminated through airport city conferences over the years and into the future.
Throughout the book, readers will receive relevant updates and new insights on the fundamental features of evolving airport cities and the business and development strategies underlying them.
You will also catch a glimpse of their ambitions and where many of them will be heading over the next decade.
From the first Airport Cities World Conference and Exhibition organised by Insight Media in Orlando in 2002, through to subsequent conferences in Pittsburgh, Dubai, Detroit, Rome, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Dallas/Fort Worth, Athens and now Beijing, I have witnessed the remarkable progress of the airport cities represented in this book. They are incredible stories certain to be of considerable interest to all who recognise that the 21st century will be the aviation century.
John D Kasarda
The Kenan Institute of
Private Enterprise
University of North
Carolina, USA
