Seeking infrastructure: Aerotropolis – Jetsons Redux? - by Barbara Champoux

Transportation infrastructure has played a critical role in the evolution of urban development and economic growth worldwide. The first major cities were located around active seaports, eventually leading to urban expansion along rivers forming the backbones of U.S. and European industrial revolutions. Railroads later opened landlocked interiors, generating a third wave of city growth outward from their terminals, followed by expansion of suburban roadway systems leading to a fourth wave of urban development. Transit-oriented development continued to evolve with the development of commercial flight and the airports.  These airports were typically built near cities, with the traditional metropolis made up of a central city, linked by roads to rings of commuter-heavy suburbs, with the airport on the periphery. Since then, rapidly increasing business and recreational travel demands, a growing need for speedy delivery of goods and services, the ubiquity of jet travel, round-the-clock workdays, overnight shipping, and global business networks have dramatically increased the number, scale and demands of airports. Playing an increasingly pivotal role in global production and enterprise systems, airports drive local economic development, and attract aviation-linked businesses and associated development to their environs. These include, among others, manufacturing and distribution facilities; hotel, entertainment, retail, and convention complexes; and office and residential buildings housing air-travel intensive professionals and employees. The rapid expansion of these aviation-oriented businesses and commercial service providers clustered around airports, where distant travelers and locals alike conduct business, work, shop, eat, sleep, and are entertained within 15 minutes from the airport, has made them leading economic drivers in their surrounding regions, and beyond. As a result, the traditional metropolis pattern with peripheral airport is evolving towards a new urban form:  the “aerotropolis,” consisting of an airport city and outlying corridors and clusters of aviation-linked businesses and associated development, keeping workers, suppliers, executives, and goods in touch with the global market, and transforming many city airports into airport cities. The aerotropolis reflects an economic development strategy designed to increase global competitiveness by: centering a metropolitan subregion’s infrastructure, land use and economy on an airport; leveraging all of that airport’s economic opportunities, including its physical multimodal transportation infrastructure (air, highway, rail and links to ports); and connecting its businesses to local and global markets, as well as alternative retail, entertainment, employment, and commercial and residential land uses expanding out from the core airport. Comprised of an airport’s aeronautical, logistics and commercial elements, the aerotropolis doesn’t simply add retail stores in an airport terminal, or light industrial parks and hotels on surrounding land, it offers businesses rapid connectivity and long-distance accessibility on a massive scale, resulting in lower costs, expanded market reach and increased productivity and competitiveness. As such, they will play an integral role in determining 21st century urbanization and globalization success, impacting development, land use and economic growth in major cities and surrounding metropolitan regions around the world. There are also tremendous challenges and opportunities arising as a result, which will be discussed in the next “Desperately Seeking Infrastructure” Series article. Barbara Champoux, Esq., is a board member and past president of the CREW New York Network, New York, N.Y.