An aerotropolis is an urban form whose layout, infrastructure, and economy is centered on an airport, offering its businesses speedy connectivity to suppliers, customers, and enterprise partners worldwide. Many of these businesses are much more dependent on distant suppliers or customers than to those located nearby. An aerotropolis has an airport city at its core and is surrounded by clusters of aviation-related enterprises. It is similar in form and function to a traditional metropolis, which contains a central city core and its commuter-linked suburbs.[1] [2] The aerotropolis encompasses a range of commercial facilities supporting both aviation-linked businesses and the millions of air travelers who pass through the airport annually.
As increasing numbers of businesses and commercial service providers cluster around airports, the aerotropolis is becoming a major urban destination where air travelers and locals alike can work, shop, meet, exchange knowledge, conduct business, eat, sleep, and be entertained without going more than 15 minutes from the airport.[3]
According to Dr. John D. Kasarda, airports have evolved as drivers of business location and urban development in the 21st century in the same way as did highways in the 20th century, railroads in the 19th century and seaports in the 18th century. As economies become increasingly globalized and dependent on electronic commerce, air commerce and the speed and agility it provides to the movement of people and goods has become its logistical backbone. Kasarda is also the academic who popularized use of the term Aerotropolis[4][5] in 2000.
The aerotropolis model typically attracts industries related to time-sensitive manufacturing, e-commerce fulfillment, telecommunications and logistics; hotels, retail outlets, entertainment complexes and exhibition centers; and offices for business people who travel frequently by air or engage in global commerce. Clusters of business parks, logistics parks, industrial parks, distribution centers, information technology complexes and wholesale merchandise marts locate around the airport and along the transportation corridors radiating from them.[6]
Some aerotropoli have arisen spontaneously due to demand, but a lack of planning and infrastructure development can create bottlenecks. Principles of urban planning and sustainability are essential to the creation of a successful aerotropolis. Governance bodies composed of airport management and city and regional government officials, together with local business and economic development leaders should lead planning and development efforts for the aerotropolis. The Detroit Region Aerotropolis in the U.S. provides an example of how poor governance and corruption can cause these projects to fail.[7]
While the aerotropolis model has had success at some airports, it has also been the subject of criticism. One major criticism is the question of whether oil will stay relatively inexpensive and widely available in the future or whether a downturn in oil production will adversely affect aerotropoli. 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 travel 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.[8]
While there is not yet a quantitative model for determining if an airport and its surrounding real estate are an aerotropolis, a qualitative list has been developed by researchers at the Center for Air Commerce at the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This list is updated frequently as new projects are announced and economic development related to airports accelerates. Sites are noted as being “operational” or “under development.”[9]
Criteria include:
The list is available at the Center for Air Commerce web site and Aerotropolis.com.[10][11]
The Economist's “The World in 2011” report notes that the aerotropolis is infrastructure to watch (page 123), citing developments in New Songdo International City, South Korea, and the U.S.'s Memphis and Atlanta airports.[12]
In "Liveanomics: Urban Liveability and Economic Growth" from The Economist Intelligence Unit, the aerotropolis is highlighted in the section on "what businesses need from cities."[13]
