Resources: Critique of aerotropolis/airport city developments – reports, articles, papers and book chapters
To help counter the abundance of industry and government information enthusing about aerotropolis / airport cities GAAM is compiling this list of reports, papers, articles and book chapters that are critical of this model of development.
2026
Bishoftu International Airport and Mega Airport City, Ethiopia, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 04/2026
Guwahati Airport expansion and Aerotropolis, Assam, India, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 02/2026
Aspiration and the Aerotropolis: Airports, Infrastructural Speculation and Geoeconomic Form, Angela Smith, Peter Adey, Weiqiang Lin, Regina Jefferies, Tay Koo, Mobility Humanities Vol. 5 No. 1, 01/2026
The Yogyakarta International Airport Aerotropolis as a Political Project, Khidir Marsanto Prawirosusanto, Mobility Humanities Vol. 5 No. 1, 01/2026
2025
Emergence of an aero-city: path dependency and ‘internal’ dimensions in BEY/Beirut from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, Cyrus Schayegh, Cambridge University Press, 25/09/2025
The quiet financialisation of urban infrastructure. The media in the normalisation of airport-led development in the Paris city-region, Jean-Baptiste Frétigny, Marion Magnan, Juliette Maulat, Mathilde Pedro, HAL Open Science, 25/06/2025
Challenges and Opportunities of Localising Community Participation in Megaproject-Induced Internal Displacement: An Australian Case Study, Shuang Zhang, Jamie Mackee, Michael Sing and Liyaning Tang, Creating Capacity and Capability: Embracing Advanced Technologies and Innovations for Sustainable Future in Building Education and Practice, Springer Nature, 17/06/2025
2024
Skepticism Surrounds Gauteng’s Proposed R200bn Vaal Aerotropolis, Satori News, 04/12/2024
Lesufi’s R200bn flight of fancy, Shirley De Villiers, Currency, 06/12/2024
Gauteng’s ‘R200bn’ Vaal airport is pie-in-the-sky insanity, Moneyweb, 03/12/2024
Airport City SEZ Could Be Another “White Elephant” – Business Botswana, Baboloki Meekwane, The Business Weekly & Review, 21/11/2024
Elusive promises of the Yogyakarta International Airport’s aerotropolis, Khidir Marsanto Prawirosusanto and Eliesta Handitya, Inside Indonesia, 02/10/2024
Notes from Central Taiwan: The once and future king of Hualien, Michael Turton, 10/06/2024, Taipei Times
“Airport city” or “VIP” urbanism? Questioning the market-led land development strategies of airports,
Accra Airport City I: A Global Space and An Exclusionary Enclave, Irene Appeaning Addo, Journal of African and Asian Studies, 04/2024
Mohali Aerotropolis, India, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 10/04/2024
Blurring the boundaries: everyday urbanism in Accra Airport City, Irene Appeaning Addo, Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 27/03/2024
Aerotropolis agency spent $4.5m on consultants, took 11 overseas trip to “deliver visitor’s centre”, NCA Newswire, 11/01/2024
2023
$500-million road network for mega Hamilton airport district gets green light amid cost concerns, Christl Dabu, In The Hammer, 15/11/2023
Farmers vow not to give land for Dehradun aerocity, New Indian Express, 27/07/2023
The Majority of the Plaintiffs Have Won in the Taoyuan Aerotropolis Land Expropriation Case!, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, 12/06/2023
Controversies over Taoyuan Aerotropolis Land Expropriation: Here’s What You Need to Know, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, 31/03/2023
The Oral Argument of the Taoyuan Aerotropolis Third Runway Lawsuit Will be Held Soon. What are the Points of Contention Surrounding this Case?, Taiwan Association for Human Rights, 02/03/2023
Between chili farms and an aerotropolis: the struggle against the new airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Heronimus Heron and Min Seong Kim, South East Asia Research, Volume 31, 2023
2022
‘Flawed vision’: Master plan for Sydney’s homes, jobs and transport slammed, Michael Koziol, The Sydney Morning Herald, 08/06/2022
Nadzab Airport Redevelopment Project (NARP) and Airport City, PNG, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 18/03/2022
2021
Assessing the prospects and challenges of the Dube Trade-Port (Durban) Aerotropolis, Ayanda Ndlela, Univeristy of Kwazulu-Natal, 2021
Councils hold grave concerns over Aerotropolis planning, April Shepherd, Council Magazine Australia, 11/10/2021
Penang DCM: What is the need for Kulim Airport during this pandemic?, Audrey Dermawan, New Straits Times, 03/08/2021
Airport City displaces Bulacan fisherfolk, Riazza P. Bello, Rappler, 27/01/2021
Dull, dispiriting and downright unimaginative: Sydney’s aerotropolis doesn’t fly, Elizabeth Farrelly, Sydney Morning Herald, 16/01/2021
The new ‘Aerotropolis’: A double-edged sword, Mary Catherine Espejo, Rappler, 12/01/2021
Land Grab Practices and a Threat to Livelihood and Food Security in India? A Case Study from Aerocity Expansion Project from S.A.S. Nagar, Punjab, Thomas Reuter, Sarbjeet Singh, A. K. Sinha and Shalina Mehta, Journal of Land and Rural Studies, Volume 9, Issue 1, 01/2021
2020
KXP AirportCity / Kulim Airport, Malaysia, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 17/11/2020
Mega airport plans, but a pittance for farmers, Nihar Gokhale, The Morning Context, 30/10/2020
Anambra Airport City / Cargo Airport, Anambra, Nigeria, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 26/10/2020
Manila Bay Aerotropolis: No Place in Post Pandemic Philippines, Leon Dulce, Manila Today, 03/09/2020
3 planning strategies for Western Sydney jobs, but do they add up?, Joel Carrett, The Conversation, 01/07/2020
Vernamfield Aerotropolis, Jamaica, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 02/04/2020
Hamilton Aerotropolis – Airport Employment Growth District, Ontario, Canada, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 01/04/2020
Northwest Florida Beaches Airport, USA, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 26/03/2020
Frontier Urbanization and Affirmative Action in Urban Ghana: A Case of Airport City, Accra, Andrews Korah MA Thesis, Miami University, 2020
2019
San Miguel’s $15bn airport: Game changer or white elephant?, NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW, Francesca Regaldo, 13/12/2019
Sanya Hongtangwan International Airport, Hainan, China, EnvJustice, ICTA-UAB, Environmental Justice Atlas, 01/11/2019
The undemocratic and unscientific SMC Aerotropolis project, Fernando “Ka Pando” Hicap, Pamalakaya, 08/10/2019
Will the Western Sydney Aerotropolis really deliver on jobs?, Alan Davies, Crikey, 09/09/2019
Shivdaspura Aero City, India, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 23/08/2019
Aerotropolis: At What Cost, to Whom? An analysis of social and environmental impacts ofNew Yogyakarta International Airport (NYIA) project, Indonesia, Ellen Putri Edita, Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, 2019
FIGHT OR FLIGHT: A critical study on the perceived effects of the planned Aerotropolis of San Miguel Corporation—a reclamation project—to the community of fisherfolk and the
environment of Taliptip, Bulakan, Bulacan, undergraduate thesis, University of the Philippines Manila, Gabrielle Louise Serrano, 05/2019
New Phnom Penh Airport and Airport City, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 17/05/2019
Building the Pickering airport makes no sense, Joe Bezubiak, The Star, 23/04/2019
Bhogapuram Airport and Aerotropolis, India, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 23/04/2019
Second airport in Jeju (air force base), south coast, South Korea, Emmy Iwarson, Rose Bridger, Hyerim Yoon, SM (ICTA-UAB), 27/02/2019
Nijgadh Airport and Airport City, Nepal, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 18/02/2019
Third Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, Northern Forests Defense, Environmental Justice Atlas, 05/02/2019
Central Transport Hub, Poland, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 01/02/2019
Contestations About the Meaning of Local Economic Development : a Case of the Aerotropolis Project in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, Sebeka Richard Plaatjie, University of Johannesburg, 01/2019
What’s so great about Denver’s “aerotropolis” anyway?, David Sachs, Denverite, 28/01/2019
2018
Would you live in an airport city?, Lucy Wallwork, Multibriefs, 12/12/2018
SMC airport project to worsen flooding, displace families in Bulacan, Narya Salamat, Bulatlat, 28/09/2018
Mark Latham destroys Queen Lucy’s “Aerotropolis airheads”, Macrobusiness, 25/09/2018
Bangabandhu Airport, Arial Beel wetlands, Bangladesh, Rose Bridger, Environmental Justice Atlas, 17/09/2018
More Harm than Good: The Case of Bulacan Aerotropolis, Chuckie Calsado, Squeeze.ph, 15/09/2018 (updated 21/08/2019)
New Yogyakarta International Airport (NYIA), Java, Indonesia, ICTA-UAB and Global Anti-Aerotropolis Movement, (GAAM), Environmental Justice Atlas, 26/08/2018
Why The Western Sydney Aerotropolis is a Bad Idea!, Build Sydney, 31/05/2018
Save Taliptip, Leon Dulce, Bulatlat, 20/05/2018
International Airport in Kertajati or Bandara Internasional Jawa Barat (BIJB), Java, Indonesia, GAAM, Stay Grounded and ICTA-UAB, Environmental Justice Atlas, 20/05/2018
Oslo is building “the first energy-positive airport city”. But how green can an “aerotropolis” be?, The Alternative UK, 27/03/2018
Istanbul’s new airport: a looming black hole, Mustafa Sonmez, AL-MONITOR, 09/03/2018
Is aerotropolis Songdo really the city of the future? Edward Howell, CityMetric, 08/03/2018
2017
Solidarity Calls for Kulon Progo Farmers against Airport and Airport City, Jogja Darurat Agraria, 18/12/2017
The “Aerotropolis” phenomenon – high-risk development thwarting SDGs, Anita Pleumarom, section in report Spotlight on Sustainable Development 2017, Reclaiming policies for the public, the Civil Society Reflection Group, July 2017
Airport-linked special economic zones, aerotropolis projects and the race to the bottom, Rose Bridger, Global Tax Justice at a Crossroads conference, 5-6th July 2017
‘Proposed $2bn Anambra Airport City project unrealistic’, David Onwuchekwa, 21/06/2017, The Sun Nigeria
Will the cities of the future be giant airports?, Barbara Sturken Peterson, Ozy, 07/05/2017
Indonesia: Villagers resist eviction for 50 sq.km airport city on their land, Rose Bridger, The Ecologist, 05/04/2017
Flying into uncertainty: Western Sydney’s ‘aerotropolis’ poses more questions than answers, Robert Freestone, 22/032017, The Conversation
2016
What’s Wrong with the Aerotropolis Model?, Max Hirsh, 04/10/2016
Can Public Hearings withstand Authoritarian Land Expropriation? Case of the Taoyuan Aerotropolis Megaproject in Taiwan, Shih-Jung Hsu and Li-Min Liao, Paper for HDCA (Human Development and Capability Association) conference, 09/2016
From Growth Poles to Aerotropolis: State and Large Scale Urban Projects in the Era of Finance Dominance, Renan Pereira Almeida, Conference: XVII Seminário de Economia Mineira, Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brasil, 08/2016
Jeju Islanders resist airport megaproject, Rose Bridger, The Ecologist, 10/06/2016
Aerotropolis Lost, Tobias Carroll, Ruins Mag, 06/2016
Upping the ante aero, Rose Bridger, New Internationalist, 04/2016
Denver’s CU sucker A-Team train wreck of thought, right through Aurora, Dave Perry, Aurora Sentinel, 27/04/2016
2015
Aurora should vote ‘I guess so’ on 1A; Denver voters should give it the ‘hell, no’, Editorial – Aurora Sentinel, 07/10/2015
Rise of the Aerotropolis, Rose Bridger, Third World Resurgence, September/October 2015
Aerotropolis developments: Environmentally destructive economic enclaves
also translated into German, „Aerotropolen“ als globaler Trend: Flughafen-Megaprojekte und ihre Folgen, Rose Bridger, TourismWatch, September 2015
Efficiency at any cost? A Critique of Aerotropolis Development for King Shaka International Airport, Meghan Crosby and Brij Maharaj, IGU Urban Commission Annual Conference, 9th-16th August 2015, University College Dublin, Ireland
Campaigners resist destruction of Istanbul forests and wetlands for airport megaproject, Rose Bridger, The Ecologist, 25/07/2015
The aerotropolis of Heathrow is being built for airheads, Will Self, Financial Times, 17/07/2015
Mopa Airport Woes, Kenneth Bo Nielsen, Environmental & Political Weekly, 20/05/2015
The Third Airport Project: Vis-a-Vis Life, Nature, Environment, People and Law, Kuzey Ormanlari (North Forest Defence), March 2015 (English version)
Aerotropolis alert! Airport mega-projects driving environmental destruction worldwide, Rose Bridger, The Ecologist,08/05/2015
Making an Indian Airport City, Gopa Samanta, Environmental & Political Weekly, 18/04/2015
New Global Group Opposes ‘Aerotropolis Schemes’, Jeff Lewis, March 2015
What’s an Aerotropolis, and why must these developments be stopped?, Rose Bridger, GAAM, March 2015
2014
Taiwan: residents resist forced eviction for ‘Aerotropolis’ megaproject, Rose Bridger, The Ecologist, 11/2014
Do we need a massive shopping complex way outside the city?, David Staples, Edmonton Journal, 07/2014
Claims that airports are a city’s “economic engine” are overstated, especially when compared to other local infrastructure, Julie Cidell, July 2014
Sugarcane(air)fields: the effects of the aerotropolis on the evolution of place, Mizan Rambhoros, UIA 2014 Durban, 2014
Andal Airetropolis, India, Environmental Justice Atlas, Swapan Kumar Patra, 08/04/2014
Manchester Airport – the concrete shadow spreads, Rose Bridger, The Ecologist, 02/2014
2013
Airport Companies as Silent Partners: The complex interplay between public and private ownership, Charlotte Halpern, Chapter 6 in book Sustainable Aviation Futures, Emerald Group Publishing, Dec 2013
Chapter 11 of book Plane Truth: Aviation’s Real Impact on People and the Environment, Rose Bridger, Pluto Press, October 2013
Runaway failures: a tale of failed airport projects -4, Lionel Messias, Goan Spirit, June 2013
Runaway failures: a tale of failed airport projects -3, Lionel Messias, Goan Spirit, June 2013
Runaway failures: a tale of failed airport projects -2, Lionel Messias, Goan Spirit, June 2013
Runaway failures: a tale of failed airport projects -1, Lionel Messias, Goan Spirit, June 2013
Aerotropolis: the city of the future? Rowan Moore, The Guardian, March 2013
2012
Taoyuan plan sparks relocation fears, Lee Jung-ping and Jason Pan, Taipei Times, 12/12/2012
Aerotropolis a $500 Million Pitfall, Larry Pomerantz, Raise the Hammer, 29/11/2012
Aranmula airport: an investigation, Praveen, May 2012
Aerotropolis proponents had an Easter egg hunt last week, Desy Schoenewies, 56 Houses Left, 13/04/2012
2011
Aerotropolis, Schmaerotropolis, Randy Bohlender, 2011
Globalization and the Airport, Aaron Renn, 02/20/2011
The Frowniest Spot on Earth, review of book ‘Aerotropolis: The way we’ll live next’ Will Self, London Review of Books, 2011
Lingering Aerotropolis Questions, Desy Schoenewies, 56 Houses Left, 17/07/2011
aerotropolis, Rob Homes, Mammoth blog, March 2011
The Cities Of the Plane, review of book ‘Aerotropolis: The way we’ll live next‘, Wayne Curtis, 02/03/2011
What is an Aerotropolis? article Miki Barnes of Oregon Aviation Watch, 2011
Aerotropolis? Whatever the name, tax credits for it are tabled for now, Desy Schoenewies, 56 Houses Left, 18/05/ 2011
The Next Big Handout: An “Aerotropolis” near you?, Patrick Ishmael, May 2011
Keys to the City, Casey Walker, Los Angeles Review of Books, 30th May 2011
Airports: from flying fields to 21st century aerocities, Lucy C S Budd, chapter in book, International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities, Edward Elgar, 2011
2010
Global aerotropolis vs. local aqua-community: conflicting landscapes in the extended Bangkok Metropolitan Region, Thailand, paper by Sirima Nasongkhla, 2010
20 Reasons to Stop Aerotropolis, Hamiltonians for Progressive Development, 09/2010
Andal Aerotropolis: A Fact-Finding Report, translated by Siddhartha Mitra, Sanhati, 2010
2009
The Panhandle Paradox, Hal Herring, 2009
Airport futures: Towards a critique of the aerotropolis model, Michael B. Charles, Paul Barnes, Neal Ryan and Julia Clayton, 11/2007, Futures, Elsevier
2008
Dance, Aerotropolis, Dance!, Ryan McGreal, Raise the Hammer, 24/06/2008
2007
Aerotropolis 2.0: You’re With Us Or You’re Against Us, Ryan McGreal, Raise the Hammer, 20/11/2007
2005
Welcome to Hamilton. (You are being screwed.), Ryan McGreal, Raise the Hammer, 28/05/2005
2003
A (2003) critique of Aerotropolis, Aaron Priven, 2003
antiaero.org 