The concept around airport cities has now been turned into a Facebook game of the same name - Airport City - where you can actually build your own aerotropolis from scratch from anywhere in the world - so long as you have an internet connection.
Airport City, developed by Hong Kong-based company 6Waves, is a new computer game on social networking site Facebook that combines city building and airport management.
The concept is simple, people playing the game are given a small airport and an area of surrounding land with a city that will supply everything the airport needs - passengers, fuel, money for development, and businesses for example.
Over time the plan is that the airport will develop, improve and expand and in turn attract more passengers and business to the area - a virtual aerotropolis in the making.
Players are able to build villas and skyscrapers, add cinemas, parks and museums for extra entertainment opportunities, and allow their passengers to spend money in pubs and supermarkets.
The aim of the whole game is to create a successful city around the airport.
The game tells users that "the economy of your airport depends on you" and players are able to attend airports of friends, send them free gifts and let their planes land at your airport.
Similar to other Facebook games such as Cityville - a 'social city-building simulation game' where a player becomes the mayor of a virtual city and oversees its development into a large metropolis - and Farmville, where players do the same but with a farm, Airport City is also combined with games such as Skyrama, where players can build their own airport.
So far the game has been experiencing teething problems because it is so new, and the reviews have been mixed.
One user said: "I like the game. However, I would have given it more stars if it wasn't so laggy, prices weren't a bit weird, and it's just too hard to buy one expansion."
Another wrote: "I like this game but lack of money makes it hard to play. I have lots of quests lined up but no money to buy land can't land guest planes as it's taking too long to collect money.
"Please, you need to re-think the game and allow us to be able to collect more money from planes houses etc, this is the only game that I play where is so hard to come by an I'm sure soon people will give up on the game. I don't know how much longer I'll play for."
However it is probably fair to say that Airport City is probably one of the most stress free ways of developing an aerotropolis from scratch, especially if you're au fait with the process in the real world.
