Weve Officially Entered a New Age For Mega-Airports Today, Dubai International Airport announced that its reached a milestone. It is now the busiest airport in the world for international travelers, a claim that has long belonged to Heathrow, in London. Heres the thing: It wont be for long. There are dozens of larger airports underway across the Middle East and Asia this year that plan to do far more business than Dubai International. In fact, one of them is only a 45-minute drive away for the new champ. Al Maktoum International Airport, directly south of Dubai, which is expected to eventually handle 160 million passengers a year by 2027—more than twice the 70 million visitors that Dubai International Airport saw this year. In a 2013 story about the rise of the mega-airport, The Guardians Rowan Moore called Dubai an airport with an emirate attached. Thats total hyperbole, but it gets to a truth that Dubai is actively courting economic growth through the creation of airports. According to Yahoo, air travel will eventually account for a third of its GDP within five years. Thats astounding, considering that 50 years ago, Dubais only airport looked like this: Image by Patche99z. Part of Dubais push towards air travel is unique—it doesnt have the manufacturing economy of Asia or the natural resources of its Gulf neighbors. But even in those more diverse economies, airports are springing up like million-dollar mushrooms. Theres Beijing Daxing International Airport (120 to 200 million fliers a year). Hamad International Airport (50 million to 93 million passengers a year). Abu Dhabi Midfield Terminal (20 to 40 million passengers a year). The future Al Maktoum International Airport, in Dubai. When were talking about complexes that are literally the size (and population) of small cities, its a short jump to talk about them as pieces of urban planning. Thats exactly what urban planners and developers are doing—through ideas like the aerotropolis, or a city laid out around and focused on an airport. The cities of the future, the theory goes, will succeed and fail based on their connectivity. The better the airport—and the access—the better suited a city will be. Proponents of this kind of urban development argue that this kind of development is the future. But theres one big caveat to the rise of the mega-airport, and the airport-centered city: The continuing free flow of fuel. Thats not likely to change any time soon—but in a theoretical future where air travel is no more, cities that depend entirely on airports wont be healthy cities for long. Image: AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili ift.tt/1LfjPuR
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 21:52:50 +0000
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