Welcome to the Age of the ‘Aerotropolis’
Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 12.11.06 | 8:24 AM ET
Call it Airworld 2.0. The airport of the future is here—think Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport—and it’s all about the “aerotropolis.” Word Spy traces the first use of the word aerotropolis—“a city in which the layout, infrastructure, and economy are centered around a major airport”—to 1994, but according to the New York Times Magazine’s Year in Ideas issue, the concept truly arrived in 2006. For a thorough look at the worldwide rise of the aerotropolis, check out Greg Lindsay’s terrific story in Fast Company earlier this year. “The aerotropolis represents the logic of globalization made flesh in the form of cities,” he writes.
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Michael Yessis is the cofounder and coeditor-in-chief of World Hum.
Jessie 12.11.06 | 1:14 PM ET
The most interesting thing to me about the new Bangkok airport is that when it opened it was apparently overrun by picnickers when the government invited locals to come out and familiarize themselves with the new hub. Anyone know if this is still a problem?
Dennis 12.11.06 | 10:02 PM ET
I was there four times in the last two weeks, and didn’t see any picnickers on any of my visits. I was underwhelmed, and ultimately disappointed, by the new BKK Airport. It is quite obvious that it was rushed into service on 28 September (e.g., one still encounters unfinished WC’s/lavatories).