An Aerotropolis is a new kind of city, a city in which the layout, infrastructure, and economy are centered around a major airport. Historically people avoid locating around airports; now they are flocking to them because the paradigm of real estate has changed from location, location, location to accessibility, accessibility, accessibility. The Internet is the newest driver of the economy and it has created a market where people want their products and they want them now.

 

Two criteria more than any other guide the locations for new public assembly facilities (PAF), the economy and population centers. Wherever cities go, public assembly facilities such as stadiums, arenas, performing arts theatres, and convention centers will follow. According to Joel Garreau, author of “Edge City”, a traditional city has not been built in the U.S. in over 75 years. It stands to reason that if we want to look to the future of PAF’s we must know where these new cities are being formed.

 

Consider a brief history of cities and changing economies and shifting populations. In the early days of this country population centers grew up along the oceans and rivers. One of the first explorers to land on the mainland was in New York in 1524. Subsequently both coast were inundated with population growth from these centers. The industrial Revolution began around 1780 and spread into the 1830’s. The railroads began to move freight and people to new cities. Cities like Chicago and Atlanta, formerly called Terminus began to serve these feeder cities. The vast amount of people living in this country were employed in agronomy. The Revolution caused the masses to move to the cities where jobs were available.

 

Moving forward more than a hundred years around 1950 population centers were beginning to shift to the suburbs. The development of the National Interstate System added more than 46,000 miles of a new distribution system. First the bedroom communities came and people would commute back to the big cities to work. The system serves all major U. S. cities. This facilitated the emergence of automobile-oriented suburban development patterns, a phenomenon named “Urban Sprawl.”  The system is prominent in American daily life. The distribution of virtually all goods and services involve Interstate Highways at some point. Then the big boom in retail and shopping centers around the 70’s. Then the economy began changing shortly thereafter leading to the Modern Era. We were shifting from manufacturing to the Information Age and corporate offices began to relocate in these suburban areas called Edge Cities.

 

As the basic components of the city where being recreated in new places, housing, retail and offices people began to want to recreate entertainment, culture and education facilities and thus all types of PAF’s were built in these new population centers. Many of these new facilities built specific to the new population demographics and made designed much classier facilities than before. They were built to avoid the industrial look and were more in line with a four star hotel. This improved product also led to more successful bottom lines as was proven by the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta who’s projected annual deficit was to be $1.5 million annually. The center over the past 11 years has produced an operational profit of up to $2.6 million annually. The Arena in Pontiac Michigan and Gwinnett County Georgia are a couple others of the many who capitalized on this market transformation.

 

In the 1990’s a new type of city again began to take hold, New Urbanism saw new communities going back to the cities to form Live, Work, Play, Communities. As a result Inner city PAF’s are enjoying new growth in business such as the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta.

 

Today the phenomenon of people and businesses moving to airports instead of away is again change the way people shop and how their goods will be distributed. The Internet is driving air transportation. People want their goods and they want them now.

 

The new Aerotropolis will cause new PAF’s to emerge and breathe new life into airport facilities. These new cities are growing throughout the word in cites such as Bangkok, Thailand with a new $4 Billion airport, Hong Kong, Dubai is completing a $33 billion World Central. In the U.S. there are a number of cities to watch as these developments begin to mature. Denver, Forth Worth, Memphis and even Atlanta where the Georgia International Convention center in College Park are looking at the concept.