The Coming Age of The Aerotropolis?

"Airports will be as important to business location and urban development in the 21st century as automobiles and trucks were in the 20th century, railroads were in the 19th century and seaports were in the 18th century."

-- John Kasarda, quoted on Real Estate Journal website

Airport-centred-cities -- or Aerotropoli -- are receiving increasing buzz in world trade and economic development circles and increasingly in the mainstream. The New York Times magazine called "aerotropolis" one of the new buzzwords for 2006. (Thanks Ben for blogging about the article.)

According to a recent article in Fast Company magazine, the value of air cargo has risen 1395% over the past 30 years, four times faster than the total value of world trade, which is up 355%. Air cargo has become one of the backbones of the new globalized economy. Many manufacturers rely on just-in-time delivery by plane as well as truck or train. Being located near an airport is becoming so important that the old real estate mantra of "location, location, location" is being refined for many commercial and industrial companies looking for space. It is now "access, access, access" -- access to an airport.

The idea of building an Aerotropolis -- an entire planned city around the airport as a central feature dates back nearly half a century. But it is only starting to gain traction in the 21st century -- perhaps because cargo trade is reaching a global critical mass.

Intriguingly, it is rising Asian countries and urban regions that are experimenting with this "technology" first. Thailand will soon open the first phase of it's $4 Billion "Suvarnabhumi" or "Golden Land" project that over the next 30 years is scheduled to become a planned city of 3.3 Million people serving 100 million passengers a year and even more dollars worth of cargo. The planned urban area outside of Bangkok will have ring roads supporting factories, office buildngs, and residential communities for the millions of workers expected to relocate to the area. Hotels and convention centres as well as a golf course or two will complete the community.

Dubai World Central is also under construction and is expected to house 750,000 people and will cost $33 Billion. The extravagances now associated with anything Dubai (oil money gone wild) no doubt will make this project a global icon with many unique luxuries.

In North America, struggling economic regions are starting to look to the Aerotropolis as a potential saviour. Detroit and Hamilton Ontario are two cities that have faced economic hardships in recent years, but sit in the heart of the North American manufacturing belt. Because most North American cities located airports in distant suburbs of major cities, some have room to expand and build an aerotropolis around an existing airport -- including Detroit and Hamilton.

However, do voters want an aerotropolis? covering up what's currently agricultural and greenspace with a concrete jungle might not appeal to all. And will North Americans want to live in an aerotropolis with airplanes coming and going 24 X 7?

There are so many questions surrounding this topic -- as well as intriguing forecasts to make. More blogs on this in the future....