PERI-URBAN - OVERVIEW As urban expansion increasingly pushes land development towards city peripheries, the peri-urban is a contested site of tremendous planning challenges and opportunities; it becomes a matter of consequence whether thoughtful, intelligent spatial practices and planning policies are in place to accommodate such outward growth. This research thesis investigates three development models that respond to the global challenge of urbanisation of the peri-urban: the aerotropolis, the integrated township, and the knowledge park. Because the peri-urban takes on a different dimension in post-industrialised, developed nations in Europe and industrialising, developing nations in Asia, the thesis focuses on two specific sites and sets of peri-urban contexts: Manchester, UK and Noida, India. Through a critical review and design analysis of the aerotropolis model in Manchester and the integrated township and knowledge park models in Noida, the thesis asks broader questions about the spatial potential of the peri-urban.
1. AEROTROPOLIS – Airport City Manchester, Manchester, UK - Helen Tran Manchester region is a post industrial area with a strong and emergent knowledge and creative sector; as the UK’s northern capital of economic activity, it is a city and urban core that is grappling with intense urbanisation pressures for growth and investment in the greater city region. In one response to this, the city has initiated development of the Airport City Manchester (ACM), and has designated the airport site as a special enterprise zone. ACM will be “an £800m office, logistics and advanced manufacturing development set to become a globally-connected business destination at Manchester Airport”, and will be one of the UK’s largest property development and regeneration schemes since the 2012 Olympics. It will be the UK’s first airport city and will set the precedent for future airport-related urban development. Manchester is an example of the current trend for cities to adopt the aerotropolis model – John Kasarda’s airport-centred urban development concept – for global competitiveness. Up to 40 aerotropolises and airport cities are in existence or are in planning phases worldwide. However, criticism of this zeitgeist model remains scant and largely left unchallenged, with the risk that wide-spread adoption may lead to the proliferation of sophisticated variations of a business park. This thesis will critique how the airport city operates in the context of Manchester’s periurban, investigating: How is the aerotropolis model, in the form of the ACM proposal, appropriate for achieving Manchester’s ambition to transition towards a knowledge-based economy? What are the spatial implications for regional development, considering that Manchester’s PU is a disparate mix of residential clusters and industrial sites? And then through case studies of typology, the thesis proposes strategies for adaptation of the aerotropolis model – outlining design and spatial principles, uses and patterning – that could lead to more intelligent development of Manchester’s peri-urban.
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