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The history of the cities is a rising tide of braking waves. The 16-18th centuries were shaped by water transport, harbours and canals. During the 19th and 20th century, cities spread radially along railroads while train stations became the urban cores. Road transport and highways would shape urbanization patterns of the 20th century, creating the suburbs. Rem Koolhaas says that the 20th- century city is over and today we are looking at a new way of living. So the question is: How will the 21st century city look like?
URB. TIMOTEI FECIORU THESIS FOR URBAN DESIGN MASTER, 2014 Mentors: conf. dr. arh Tiberiu Florescu drd. arh Matei Bogoescu drd. arh. Alexandru Belenyi FACULTY OF URBAN PLANNING UNIVERSITY OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING “ION MINCU”, BUCHAREST
“A city made for speed is made for success.” Le Corbusier “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I dedicate this thesis to my family, for their relentless support and unconditional love. I own this work to my dear Veronica, for her unbelievable ability to give me the strength that I needed, and to Teo, for her distressing joy. I am profoundly indebted to my mentors, Matei and Alex, who guided me patiently and inspirationally to a successful ending. I specially thank Andrei and Tudor, for their critical remarks and their lifesaving tips & tricks. Last, but equal in importance, I thank Rﾄホvan for giving me a five-months-long vacation to complete this thesis.
CONTENTS
Foreword PART 0 - DEFINING THE SUBJECT 17 Introduction 19 Problem statement 23 Relevance 25 Research questions & objectives 27 Personal position 29 Methodology 31 PART 1 – THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 35 Chapter 1. Sustainability 37 Chapter 2. Air travel – an overview 39 Chapter 3. The three dimensions of the airport 53
Chapter 4. Airport driven urban development concepts
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PART 2 – AN OUTLINE OF MALAYSIA AND KUALA LUMPUR
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Chapter 1. Global and local in Greater Kuala Lumpur
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Chapter 2. Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur development strategy
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PART 3 – KUALA LUMPUR MASTERPLAN FOR 2030
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PART 4 – KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY
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EPILOGUE – KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY – A MODEL FOR AIRPORT DRIVEN URBAN DEVELOPMENTS 202 REFERENCES
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FOREWORD KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY Kuala Lumpur Aero City represents a final step in a sinuous process of research that lasted almost a year. Starting from the compulsory theme of “sustainability”, that was attributed to 2014 Urban Design Master’s promotion, I had first approached the subject through a general point of view: it was considered that sustainability means structure, order, hierarchy, diversity, efficiency, connectivity, while the idea of unsustainability would lead to entropy, mono-functionality, inefficiency, disconnectivity. The research focused on connectivity and how could it generate sustainability. The airport was studied as an urban equipment capable of generating welfare, although aviation and airports are generally thought of as unable to fit into the global concept of sustainability. Moreover, the airports are regarded as one of the most unsustainable, polluting and problematic cities’ amenities. After running across the idea of Aerotropolis, I have familiarized myself with the other concepts of airport driven urban development: airfront, decoplex, airport city, airport corridor, airea. The subject triggered enthusiasm and determination, as it was completely unknown for everybody I had talked to. Also, the curiosity grew bigger as it was discovered that even in the international scholarly planning literature the idea of airport driven urban development was little known and that airports’ urban impact was consistently neglected. After reading the John D. Kasarda’s and Greg Lindsay’s book Aerotropolis - The Way We’ll Live Next, I reckoned an interesting urban concept with a lot of potential, but with many amendments to be addressed with. Finally, by designing the project I tried to define a new and sustainable airport driven urban development model, generated by mixing two almost 100 – year - old utopias. Perhaps sustainability is a utopia and any project that wants to create a truly sustainable environment will never be able to do it by following the rules and the constraints of the world we live in. Aero City - the new airport driven urban development model should not be perceived as a general solution, but rather as a step ahead regarding the added value brought to a city by the proximity of global infrastructure. The entire research process was guided by the words of Albert Einstein, who was maybe the most entitled to speak them: “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” . I hope that this quotation will act like a partially hidden red wire which is to be followed throughout my entire dissertation.
PART 0
0
DEFINING THE SUBJECT
DEFINING THE SUBJECT
INTRODUCTION
“The shape of the cities have always been defined by transportation. Today, this means air travel.� John. D. Kasarda
Fig.0.1 - Traveled distance in an hour per type of transport
As the master thesis subject is sustainability, my individual goal was to find a niche in this wide concept that could fulfill my personal vision on sustainability. Always avoiding a generic point of view, the thesis focuses upon some very specific aspects of sustainable development. Hence, I addressed sustainability through the connectivity filter, but not without including in this spectrum social, economic and environmental aspects. I consider that mobility is one of the most important force that shaped the human settlements throughout the history of mankind, which means that a focused approach to mobility is a sine-qua-non condition to reach sustainability. Transport is one of the most important human activities worldwide, an indispensable component to economy and society in general. Transport creates connections between people, space and goods. As a multidimensional activity, transport has proven its importance historically (it played an important role in the rise of civilizations – Egypt, Rome and China), socially (transport is a social service, facilitating access, shaping social interactions by either favoring or hindering the mobility of people), politically (governments subsidize and invest in transport, shaping communication corridors for political reasons), economically (transport is an industry that generates economic development: it contributes to the added-value of other economic activities, facilitates economies of scale, influences real estate and the economic specialization of regions) and environmentally (transport is a dominant factor in contemporary environmental issues: pollution, health issues, etc.). At a quick look, everything seems to be governed nowadays by mobility and accessibility. From the roman roads to the multifunctional transport hubs, it appears that the need to connect is bigger than it 19
had ever been before and it gives birth to some of the global scale phenomena: globalization, tourism (for business, studies, holiday, medical care, etc.), trade and commerce, cross – countries technical infrastructures, international media and culture, etc. Mobility characterizes almost everything, from goods to people. In
Mobility shapes cities.
order to produce an iPhone, 8 shipments are needed throughout 3 continents: the chips and other components are produced in United States of America, Germany, Switzerland, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, then assembled in Hong Kong and shipped all over the world to reach the Apple stores. Also, people would travel for almost every common activity, from shopping – to Milan, or studying – in Netherlands, to working – in Asia and to spending a holiday on a safari in Africa. For example, only in 2012 almost 4 million students went to study abroad, up from 2 million students in 2000, representing 2 of 10 students globally. According to IATA (International Air Transport Association), aviation transported 3,1 billion passengers in 2013, with more than one and a half the number of passengers carried in 2004, when 2.1 billion passengers were accounted. Physical connectivity is doubled by virtual connectivity, which equals in importance with the first one. If in 1992 there was only one website, today, two decades later, there are almost a trillion websites and two billion people online. The internet creates an international lust for
Nowadays, people travel more than ever. 51% of international tourists travel by air.
travelling. However, the thesis focuses on physical world wide connectivity gained by air transportation. The expansion of air travel have influenced the development of cities and regions. The air transport accessibility differs from land and water accessibility, as it creates very fast connections between very distant cities from all over the world, while the land and water transport addresses shorter distances within cities’ regions for the same amount of travel time. It is obvious that air travel is an important tool of globalization, as cities situated thousands of kilometers apart have more in common, economically and culturally, than cities separated by only tens of kilometers. For example, London has more in common with Hong Kong, although there are 9000 km in-between, than with Cardiff – a 240 km – far English city. “International airline routes are the quintessential manifestation of 21st century globalization. They are our high-speed physical Internet, moving people and products quickly and efficiently over long distances. Airports are its routers, attracting time-critical, globallyconnected businesses of all types to their environs creating a new 20
Globalization is the effect of air travel.
DEFINING THE SUBJECT urban form (...).” (John D. Kasarda) In the Instant Age we live in, when competitiveness is ensured by speed, accessibility by air travel is the key. “The three rules of real
“The 20th- century city is over.” Rem Koolhas
estate have changed from location, location, location to accessibility, accessibility, accessibility.” (Kasarda and Lindsay 2011) Rem Koolhaas says that “the 20th- century city is over. It has nothing new to teach us anymore. Our job is simply to maintain it.” So the question is: How will the 21st century city look like?
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22
PROBLEM STATEMENT
DEFINING THE SUBJECT
“Airports are creating a new urban form.” J.D. Kasarda
The history of the cities is a rising tide of braking waves. As the 1618th centuries were shaped by water transport and harbors were the most important transport nodes that also generated the wealth of the cities, the industrial revolution brought the steam engine. Ships would travel faster and world’s largest canals were built to facilitate trade. Along with the use of steam engines and railroads in the 19th and 20th century, cities spread radially along transport routes and train stations became thier urban cores. The internal combustion engine brought the large-scale mechanization of transportation modes, especially road transport. As a result, highways, the new wave, would shape urbanization patterns of the 20th century, creating the suburbs. The fifth wave is here, and the 21st century is tributary to speed, to air
The 21st century is tributary to airtravel. How will this affect the urbanisation process?
travel. The wide body jet planes can now carry up to 853 passengers at a cruising speed of 900km/h, with no stops for 15.700km. It is estimated that by 2030 cargo traffic will triple and passenger traffic will double, from 700 million flights in 2010 to 1,6 billion commercial flights.
Sailships 16-18th century
Fig.0.2 - Waves of transport - airplanes reduced travel time by 58 times (source: http://people.hofstra.edu)
The age of suburbia is passing, along with the economy that supported it: cheap cars, cheap gas, cheap mortgages and free highways. It is being replaced by the Instant Age, which brings along the global economy of ideas and people and their infinitely configurable expressions: iPhones, FedEx, Facebook, 23
etc. (Kasarda and Lindsay 2011). “Look for yesterday’s busiest train
Airports are...
terminals and you will find today’s great urban centers. Look for today busiest airports and you will find the great urban centers of tomorrow. This is the union of urban planning, airport planning and business strategy. And the whole will be something altogether different than the sum of its parts.” (John D. Kasarda) Today, airports – like shopping malls and museums, represent one of the “public” spaces of the contemporary city (Sudjic 1999). They have become city branding hotspots and economic growth generators, although not without considerable controversy. Airports are transactional spaces in a global economy, main hubs in the worldwide “space of flows”(Castells 1996; Gottdiener 2001). Transforming from an intermodal transport node to a multifaceted business enterprises that anchors mixed-use activity centers, corridors and zones, the airports are shaping new urban forms that extend far behind their own property limits. There is an “airport area” emerging as a generic postmodern landscape of warehouses and logistics facilities, hotels, offices and shopping complexes, that challenges issues like governance, planning and environmental management (Guller and Guller 2003). Airports are “both users and producers of spatial development within their region” and their urban impact and spatial consequences is under-researched (Knippenberger 2010).
The planning literature
didn’t seriously address the implications of th phenomenon. What impact does an airport have on the city and on its surrounding area? Why is this important subject neglected by planning specialists despite airports’ role in shaping metropolitan form? Since there is a strong relationship between airports and city, could this be turned into a sustainable asset? In conclusion, the problem that this study focuses on is airports and their role in the urban development process, as a result of an urgent need to better understand from a planning point of view how could airport’ effects on the territory can be managed and channeled to create sustainable cities.
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MULTIFUNCTIONAL HUBS PUBLIC SPACES BRANDING HOTSPOTS GROWTH GENERATORS TRANSACTIONAL SPACES MIXED-USE CENTERS MACHINES AGENTS OF GLOBALIZATION UNSTABLE SYSTEMS NON-PLACES WORLD’S MOST CENTRAL PLACES PART OF A “GLOBAL CITY OF BITS”
What is the role of airports in the urban development process?
RELEVANCE
DEFINING THE SUBJECT
“The new type of life in the air is changing everything on the ground.” (Fuller and Harley 2004)
Airports have been relatively neglected in international scholastic planning literature, despite their considerable role in the 20th century urbanization phenomenon.
Scholastic planning literature have relatively neglected airports, despite their sheer importance in shaping the world as we know it. “Their transformation into major mixed-use urban nodes anchoring subregional realms of aviation – oriented development has underscored their significance as agents of and products of globalization.” (Freestone and Baker 2011) Airports have only slowly gained prominence in the urban geography, planning and economic development literature, but they succeeded to attract substantial technical documentation in engineering,
construction and facilities management. The latest technical manual addressing airport issues through a planning perspective is the APA’s (American Planning Association) Planning and Urban Design Standards (2006) that refers to both “airside” (aircrafts operations) and “landside” (general support and public access). It includes some land use recommendations, considering noise, safety and airspace protection, and a governance model. Technical literature offers extensive environmental impact statements and planning inquiries according to the growing sophistication of airports planning methodology and their increasingly debated nature of unevenly coupling local costs, problems and wider benefits. In America, John Nolen was the first to address airport issues and their wider influence on urban form. In 1928, he developed for The National Conference of City Planning a list of necessary features for landing fields, including passengers’ station, shops, restaurants, sleeping quarters, car parks and other incidental buildings, “all well planned and suitably constructed” (Nolen 1928). Hubbard, McLintock and Williams (1930) wrote an article in Harvard City Planning series where they stated that airports are very similar to railway stations and they should be located at a higher altitude than surrounding landscape, so as to be unobstructed and away from the commercials districts because of “unpredictable air currents”, “the presence of smoke” and operational hazards. Daly Bednarek (2000) studies the relationship between city planners and airports from 1927 to 1940, arguing that planners regarded airports as components of intra - metropolitan transport systems, but after World War II they began to be comprehended as part of the national infrastructure. During this period, airport development was considered a “remote side issue”, leading to unguided urban development around airports (Barrett 1987). 25
However, starting with the 1940s, airports acted as agents of suburban decentralization, transforming American cities from industrial to postindustrial urban settlements. By the 1950s, airports were considered a national problem. President Harry Truman’s Airport Commission reported that most airports “have been comprehensively planned from the standpoint of air transport and aircraft requirements, insufficient attention has been given to their physical relationship to the urbanized area of which they are a part.” The arrival of jet aircraft in the 1960s triggered the evolution of airport area into a distinctive and identifiable economic zone which was mainly destined to be an industrial park partly planned, partly unplanned (Karsner 1997). In the 1970s, Richard Meier, an early promoter of sustainable development, noticed how airports created new suburban centers as a nexus between companies and clients, headquarters and branch offices, producers and suppliers (Meier 1974). Airports became a major research theme, triggered mainly by major expansion plans in Britain. For the 1980s the noise issue was a main topic, while the 1990’ were concerned about airline routes, hubs and networks (Short and Kim 1999). The 2000s research preoccupations included the liberalization of aviation industry. The discussions were only sectorial, from the architectural, engineering, geographical, business and risk management, politically, environmentally, transport and aerospace point of view. Airport studies are referred as a small chapter in traditional transport geography, as reviewed by Vowles (2006). European urban analysts have comprehended airports as major activity nodes in urban systems; they have studied the relationship between airline networks and airport planning (Burghouwt 2007, Caves 1997) and the balance needed between economic growth and environmental protection (Graham 2003). Twomey and Tomkins (1995) are interested in the rise of airport economic clusters and van den Berg, Van Klink and Pol (1996) conclude that to maximize the interests of all regional stakeholders, collaboration in both spatial and economic planning is vital. With the beginning of the 21st century, major airports were the spearheads of a networked society, evolving from mono - modal air fields through multi – modal transport hub to multifunctional urban most central places. However, this doesn’t overscore their most significant role as agents of globalization (Urry 2007). Major metropolitan airports represent the archetypal artifact of “glocalization”, as they mediate the interaction between global forces and local environments (Robertson 1995). John Short (2004) considers that “airports are not just nodes in the global network of
Airports mediate between global forces and local environment. Airports represent the archetypal artifact of “glocalization”.
flows; they are sites of major environmental impact that highlight the tension between international connectivity and local livability.” There is still a lacuna in understanding the role of the airport in the metropolitan context, which is very surprising given the popularity of subjects like globalization, privatization and neoliberalism. As the aviation industry is on a continuous expansion and air travel becomes more and more affordable to masses (since the 1970s travel fares declined by 60%), it is urgent to become aware of its effects on global, regional, metropolitan and local scale, so as to understand how to grow sustainably.
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DEFINING THE SUBJECT
RESEARCH QUESTIONS & OBJECTIVES RESEARCH QUESTIONS What is a sustainable city and what is its most important feature? What is the airport’s effect on the city and its metropolitan territory? How can an airport driven urban development be sustainable?
OBJECTIVES Create a new and sustainable airport driven urban development spatial model. Implement the new model in a specific location and prove that it successfully responds to local and global needs and expectations.
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PERSONAL POSITION
DEFINING THE SUBJECT
Despite its actuality, airport driven urban development concepts aren’t known to the Romanian urban planners, nor to the most of international planning community. There is a repetitive segregation between planners when it comes to create very technical facilities such as airports, roads, industry platform, urban infrastructure (water distribution, sewers and filters system, etc.). Although “integrated� is a very trendy concept that is attributed to almost everything, it might have never been wholly implemented, as it semantically states. Therefore, I want to make possible through my dissertation a truly integrated vision that could combine technical, urban, social, economic and environmental aspects so as to create a single multipurpose product that could perform better than a group of different products that address the same palette of necessities. My work hopes to stage a scenario where what is technical could be transformed into art and feelings and what is sensitive and fragile could be turned into powerful and competitive; I want to show that an airport could be not just a machine that controls flows and traffic, but a public plaza that attracts life and generates joy. This change of paradigm can be considered an utopia, but basing upon my findings regarding the future of aviation, it think that whatever holds the future and looks impossible today, will be common tomorrow.
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DEFINING THE SUBJECT
METHODOLOGY
This research started by trying to understand sustainability from a personal point of view. I began focusing on an airport driven urban development concept, Aerotropolis (Kasarda and Lindsay 2011), idea which broadened the study to airports, aviation and other airport driven urban development spatial models: aifront (Blanton 2004), decoplex (Conway 1993), airport city (Guller and Guller 2003), airport corridor (Schaafsma, Amkreutz and Guller 2008) and airea (Schlaak 2010). After choosing this theme, several cities, along with their relationship with their airports, have been analysed, in search of a sustainable link between the two, considering physical, economic, social and environmental impact. On one hand, this exercise was carried upon four unsustainable locations (Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia, Malmo – Sweden, Maputo – Mozambique, Benghazi – Libia), where it could be noticed a spatial and functional segregation between the city and the airport: long distances, functional incompatibilities, airport growth confinement, insufficient capitalization of the airport, low air traffic and small impact on city’s economy. On the other hand, Amsterdam - Netherlands, Shenzhen – China, Memphis - SUA and Doha - Qatar, were thought to have a sustainable city – airport relationship: functional integration, aviation – oriented economy, strong physical and functional connection, airport as a symbol of the city, heavy passenger and cargo traffic, constant economic and population growth in the city ensured by the airport. Hereupon, revolutionary ideas and utopias were searched for, to understand the expectations of past generations regarding the future of aviation. It seemed that utopia is generated by crisis or increasing prosperity, and some of the ideas I found proved to be inspiring and revolutionary. Also, by studying some airports and their impact, three categories of airports were outlined: iconic airports –symbol of a community (study-case: Tempelhof - Berlin, Germany), utilitarian airports – a must have facility to support life in remote areas (study-case: Yellowknife Airport - Yellowknife, Canada) and catalytic airports – the generators of city’s economic growth and prosperity (study-case: Memphis International Airport, Memphis, U.S.A.). The next step was finding a location where these concepts would fit. The list included 11 possible locations (Durban – South Africa, Minna – Nigeria, Dubai – Emirates, Doha – Qatar, Bangkok – Thailand, Bogota – Columbia, Buenos Aires – Argentina, Cairo – Egypt, Denver – USA, Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia, Mexico City – Mexico) which were selected by applying the following filters: •
Megacities – cities with a metropolitan population exceeding 10 million people
•
Important global hub – cities with some of the busiest airports in the world
Although some of the chosen cities wouldn’t fit in both criteria, the choice was narrowed to four locations (Doha, Buenos Aires, Cairo, and Kuala Lumpur), due to supplementary considerations: city and country visions, spatial settings, policies, local socio-economic issues, etc). In the end, Kuala Lumpur proved to be the most suitable place to implement a sustainable airport driven urban development concept because it would respond best to the local needs. 31
MIND MAP OF THE WORKING PROCESS
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THESIS PLAN
DEFINING THE SUBJECT
33
PART 1
1
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
source: http://www.abrandnewview.com
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
SUSTAINABILITY
CHAPTER 1
“Inaction is no longer acceptable.� Eric Lowitt, The Collaboration Economy: How to Meet Business, Social, and Environmental Needs and Gain Competitive Advantage
Sustainable = able to continue without causing damage to the environment (Longman Dictionary) Sustainable = able to be maintained at the certain rate or level (Oxford Dictionary) Sustainable development = development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland Commission of the United Nations, 20.03.1987) This is what sustainability means from a general point of view. Being given the liberty of creating a definition of my own which should act like a statement of this urban project, I addressed a certain niche, which was thought to be holding the key to another future. What is sustainability? Sustainability is the attribute of a city to be located at the intersection of international (aerial) transport axes, designed to facilitate cultural and economic exchange, by attracting flows of people, products, capital and knowledge. What is a sustainable city? A sustainable city is the city that bases upon an aero-centric development, able to increase its competitiveness through speed and global accessibility, enhancing local economic, social and cultural values, to become a hub of growth and opportunity in the global network of megacities.
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source: http://2backpackers.com
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
AIR TRAVELAN OVERVIEW
CHAPTER 2
AIRPORTS AND AVIATION IN HISTORY “Imitating the eagle that loses itself into the blue of the sky was, from early ages, a vivid lust of man, who had been bound by gravity to the earth where he was born on.” Aurel Vlaicu
The first flight with a machine capable of sustaining itself in the air under the control of a pilot took place in December 1903 in North Carolina, USA, where the manned aircraft floated 12 seconds at 3 meters altitude. In the Pioneer Era (1903-1914) aviation was only for the bravest, mainly for military and sports use. The army used airplanes mainly for reconnaissance missions (photographing, artillery corrections), but also for bombing. The biplanes had a wooden structure covered with a painted textile, with the pilot seating in an open cockpit. The first series production aircraft, Demoiselle, could be constructed in 15 days, weighted 143kg and reached a top speed of 90km/h. The landing sites were “cow pastures aerodromes” (Gordon 2004). World War I brought the monoplanes and the first practical all-metal aircraft, the Junkers J1, along with a very helpful accessory: the radiotelephone. After the war, bombers were converted to civilian use, and first commercial regular flights started in 1919 between London and Paris. In the 1920’s, a new kind of public place began to take shape; it was referred to as an airport, air station, air depot and aerodrome. Visionary planners considered the airport the key to the city of the future. The American journalist Lowell Thomas notes: “A new visionary world unfolds before the eye of the modern traveler who hurries from cloud to cloud.” However, the early flight conditions were very primitive in terms of both comfort and safety. By 1928, one in a hundred passenger would die. Only the upper class would afford to fly: movie stars, journalists, and businessmen. Airfares were 50% higher than first-class travel by train or ship. The flying range of early passenger carriers was 800km. Municipalities began to understand the importance of aviation and timidly invested in airports, after convincing campaigns made by WWI flying aces. First airports were just a group of hangars, shacks for mail and some tiny waiting rooms scattered around the perimeter of a grass field. As the 39
planes got heavier and needed harder landing surfaces, long narrow runways were laid in crisscrossing configurations. Aerial legislation and zoning laws for airport’s peripheral areas were adopted. The airports weren’t returning any profit to the municipalities and some cities boosted revenue by charging admission, adding restaurants, gift shops, swimming pools, theaters, dancing halls, basketball courts or by holding air shows. In Glendale, California, permanent grandstands were built adjacent to the field, capable of holding 2.000 Fig.1.1 - First flight, of the Wright brothers, using a biplane, spectators. Some airports even had golf courses or dog – racing tracks
1903 (source: http://en.wikipedia.org)
right on the airfield. When the Tempelhof airport terminal was built in Berlin in 1927 by the Nazi Administration, it became one of Europe’s iconic buildings and the largest and first modern airport in the world. It was one of the biggest building in the world, a 1,2km x 50m arcshaped structure, with a roof capable of accommodating 100.000 Fig.1.2 - First practical all-metal aircraft, Junkers J1, 1916 spectators to watch parades and air shows. “Airports are new and the
(source: http://en.wikipedia.org)
architectural expression of their buildings should be modern.“, stated airport theorist Sterling Wagner in his book, The Modern Airport. Up to this step-ahead in architecture, airports were designed using historical themes (e.g.: Renaissance palazzo used as a model for Littorio airport in Rome; El Passo Municipal Airport was inspired from Pueblo Indian Architecture). Advertising had an important role in making flying popular, through movies and magazines, free short trips, etc. “Movies and aviation had both emerged as by-products of modern technology and gave
Fig.1.3 - Largest airplane for 20 years, starting with 1929 (source: http://en.wikimedia.org)
the world new perspectives.”(Gordon 2004). As a publicity event, a Model-T Ford was disassembled and boarded on a plane and shipped from Chicago to Cleveland, were the car was reassembled – in 28 minutes – and driven away. 1929 saw the largest plane built until then, Dornier Do X, which could carry 169 people aboard, a record unbroken for the next 20 years. It weighted 28 tons, had a cruise speed of 175km/h and a range of 1.700km. One of the first pilots,
Fig.1.4 - Unveiling of Boeing’s new 707 jet, Renton, 1954
Antoine de Saint-Exupery said that “the airplane has unveiled for us (source: http://sowingculture.wordpress.com) the true face of the earth”, while Le Corbusier exclaimed: “The airplane is the symbol of the new age.” In his Plan Voisin, an urban core with a six-level transportation complex was included between towering skyscrapers, linked by “aero-taxis” to a larger aerodrome outside the city limits. However, after his first flight in the 1930s, Le Corbusier considered that “the beauty of an airport is in the splendor of wide open spaces.” In a French Congress of Aviation, he stated that “Airports
Fig.1.5 - First Boeing 747, 1968
must be two-dimensional architecture. An airport”, said le Corbusier, (source: http://modernairliners.com) 40
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK “should be naked”. The modernists understood the change brought by aviation and advised that the bird’s eye perspective is as important as elevations, thus the roof became the fifth façade. European airlines were seen as ligaments of the European empires and helped to prolong a colonial system which was already beginning to fall apart. In 1931 the average flying time was approximately 8 hours, as stops were made to refuel, and a trip could last up to 10 days Fig.1.6 - Bolling field- first airport of Washington DC, 1919 (source: http://www.old-picture.com)
for remote destinations. During the WW2, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese invasion in U.S.A. seemed imminent, thus efforts were made to conceal the airports. Airports had to become invisible. Camouflage artists blended hangars, terminals and runways with the surroundings and even Disney animators gave a hand in some cases. After the WW2, America wanted to become a nation of wings, not only a nation of wheels. “Restlessness became a cardinal virtue” (Gordon 2004). In 1945, 6,7million passengers flew on U.S. domestic carriers,
Fig.1.7 - First modern airport, Tempelhof-Berlin, 1927 (source: http://campus-party.eu)
but in the following year, the number doubled. The first civilian airliner to be used after the war was the same plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Airlines started to lower the fares, initiating the era of mass air transit. Juan Trippe, an American airline entrepreneur, stated that “mass transit by air may prove to be more significant to world destiny than the atom bomb”. By 1955, more Americans were flying than riding on railroads. In 1956, more Americans were crossing the ocean by plane than by ship. Life magazine pointed out how every
Fig.1.8 - Crisscrossing runways - common during the 1940s (source: https://maps.google.ro/)
layer of the society was represented in the new “democracy of the air”: Hollywood stars, politicians, just-married couples, senior citizens, children and even animal trainers. In the 1950s, a busy airport like LaGuardia reached peaks of 50 planes an hour and thus the system of “stacking” was introduced to keep aircrafts at different altitudes. 1954 proved to be the year with not even a single fatality reported in U.S.A. At an urban level, a new phenomenon took place: middle class was
Fig.1.9 - Plan Voisin - an aero-station in the middle of the city , 1922 (source: http://archdaily.com)
relocating into the suburbs and headquarters and business were leaving the downtown for the airport area. Airports decentralized daily activities. Frank Lloyd Wright stood by this affirmation, believing that airports should be spread out across the countryside, far from urban density. In Broadacre City he envisioned an airport outside town and citizens piloting their personal “aerotors”. In 1953 aviation editor Ansel E. Talbert was the first to use the term “airport city”: ”The largest of America’s modern commercial flying fields might be well
Fig.1.10 - Broadacre City- citizens piloting their personal “aerotors”, 1932 (source: http://api.ning.com)
called “airport cities”, as they included all urban amenities of a city. In 1952, Greater Pittsburgh’s new airport was the first to challenge 41
in scale Tempelhof, built accordingly to the architectural theory stating that “an air terminal is a machine”. Airports were turned to the engineers and efficiency experts, as traditional architects proved to be ill equipped to cope with the complexity of airport design. It was then when loading bridges and adjustable platform were put into use. Along with the arrival of the four-engine jet airliner Boeing 707 in 1958, everything changed. It had a range of 5.000 kilometers and could fly at a speed of 960km/h. In the first two years of jet travel, passenger figures almost doubled. It was then when flight crew and stewardesses began
Fig.1.11 - Pittsburgh International Airport (source: http://en.wikipedia.org)
to dress like models. The increased mobility would contribute to the cultural revolution of the 1960s. The Beatles global phenomenon was possible only due to television and jet speed. Yakov Zahavi noted that people tended to spend 13% of their disposable income on travelling. Also, students started to take a gap year and travel across the world. Israeli economist Sociologist Alvin Toffler talked about “new nomads”, saying that never before has distance meant less.
In a century, airports progressed from muddy fields to modern gigantic structures having the complexity of a city.
In the 1960s a solution came up regarding the relationship between the airport and the city: total ignoring. Gigantic new complexes were built to accommodate jet airliners, servicing millions of passengers a year. They had their own police and fire department, power plants, fuel dumps, medical care services, hotels, conference centers, theaters, nightclubs and even churches. A new kind of urbanism stepped into the spotlight, which was explained by Time magazine in a five-page article in 1960 called “Airport Cities, Gateway to the Jet Age”. Airports had
Airports are unstable systems which constantly overcome their own limitations, adapting to technological progress.
to signal the begining of the Jet Age: “Our architecture is to humble. It should be prouder, much richer and larger than we see it today.” (architect Eero Saarinen) Cars were parked as close to the boarding gates as possible, orientation was insured by signs and interior design, while big open spaces were lightened through tall curtainwalls. The Boeing 747 produced in 1968 changed the scale of everything in the aviation industry. It could carry 400 passengers and every part of the airport had to be enlarged in order to receive its size and passengers capacity. In the 1970s travelers had to walk from the parking lot to check-in an average of five-times the length of a football field. Terminals expanded and produced disorientation. Color coding, directional signs, moving alleys and a new system of lettering and pictograms were added. The 1980s literature depicted airports as “a place of sinister brightness”, “a landscape of hysteria”, “a strangely muted atmosphere” that one may have though he was beyond this world, with “white light and thin air”, in “total absence of morning, climate and substance”, having a lighting that burns “so violently white in the surrounding murk” (Gordon 2004). “Every now and then the announcers’ voices, disembodied and intoning their message like angels, would call someone’s name.” (Gordon 2004) Moreover, the imagination of an airport as an antechamber to the hereafter by W.G. Sebald would sadly prove to become a threatening reality. 42
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
AIRPORTS AND AVIATION NOWADAYS “An airport processes traffic. It is a machine for capturing and controlling flows in the most literal manner imaginable.” (Fuller and Harley 2004)
Fig.1.12 - International airline routes (source: http://en.wikipedia.org)
Common hijacks in the 1970s would increase the level of anxiety. Only between 1969 and 1978 four hundred international hijacks took place, involving 75.000 passengers. Airline terror became the fastest way the extremists would gain global attention for their cause. In response to the assaults, airports adopted strict security measures. “Passengers who had once been treated like royalty were now assumed guilty until proven innocence.”(Gordon 2004) Security checkpoints replaced the boarding gate where lovers and relatives once embraced. A defensive
Today there are 3,1 billion air travelers, out of which 51% are international tourists. Every 2 seconds a commercial airliner lands or takes off. There are 36,4 million commercial flights worldwide, 41.821 airports (3.864 international), 30.000 aircrafts in commercial service and 1397 commercial airlines.
new style of architecture was now used to match the anxious reality. The lobbies once designed to be open were now segregated in “sterile” and “non-sterile” zones: exits were sealed, temporary partitions erected, views obscured. Paul Virilio, a French cultural theorist and urban planner observed that “the airport came to resemble a fort”. Airports were very much alike penitentiaries: antiterrorist measures turned the airport into an electronically controlled environment that could only be rivaled by maximum security prisons. The airport was regarded as a purely mechanical system, referred to as “passenger processing system”. The deregulation act signed in 1978 removed federal controls over commercial fares and routes on U.S. airlines, thus dividing the modern and postmodern age of aviation. The air travel would become more 43
Fig.1.13 - Air traffic being stopped above U.S.A. East Coast in 11.09.2001. 5000 planes had to land immediately. (source: Fuller and Harley 2004)
accessible, but would lose in comfort. The pressure on baggage-sorting system increased and the old formulas for building airports couldn’t be applied any longer. In 1980s European cities ran out of available free space for expanding or building new airports. However, the Asian countries began to build impressive airports: Kansai International Airport in Japan would cost $14 billion and Hong Kong would invest $ 20 billion in a “vote of confidence in Hong Kong’s future”. In the 1990s, the trend returned to recreating symbolism, imagery and memorable spaces within terminals. However, the theories of commercial developers were more important than those of Bauhaus: passengers would spend an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes between flights, which meant they could spend money while waiting. Airports became “shopping malls with planes leaving from it” (Gordon 2004). Fig.1.14 - Terrorist attack on World Trade Center, Airport became international trade centers with corporate parks and
New York, 2001 (source: http://yournewyork.ru)
conference centers (e.g. Las Colinas – Dallas), a model for the ideal corporate city. But the long queues provoked anxious behaviors, so interior designers humanized the airports and induced relaxation with computerized waterfalls, recreated tropical forest (Kuala Lumpur International Airport), made use of natural materials, aroma therapy (Heathrow) or oxygen intake stands to relieve the preflight stress.
Fig.1.15 - Low cost flying is cheap and unconfortable
“Terminals shaped for speed now attempt to evoke the quality of (source: http://airlinetrends.com) 44
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Fig.1.16 - Airports are divided into sterile and non-sterile zones, into holding and processing zones (source: Fuller and Harley 2004)
The airport has become a highly-secured machine for controlling and processing traffic. It is divided into sterile and non-sterile zones.
Fig.1.17 - Airports are divided into sterile and non-sterile zones, into holding and processing zones (source: Fuller and Harley 2004) 45
Since the 1970’ air fares declined by 60%. Air travel became affordable to the masses.
Fig.1.18 - Real price of air transport, 1970-2010 Source: ICAO, IATA
Today there are 3,1 billion air travelers. The number of passengers is up 95-fold from 31 million in 1950 and tripled since 1986.
Fig.1.19 - World air passenger and freight traffic 1950-2012 Source: Airlines for America
1% of global trade volume is airborne 35% of global trade value is airborne
Fig.1.20 - Modal shares of world trade 2008 Source: IHS Global Insight, Inc., World Trade Service. Does not include intra-EU trade.
46
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
By 2030 30% of airplanes will use biofuels. CO2 emissions will be reduced by 60-70%.
Fig.1.21 - Global GHG emissions by source Source: EDGAR 4.0 (JRC/PBL) 2009 and IEA
Aviation occupancy rates are 78% better than those of cars and trains.
Fig.1.22 - Annual passenger plane load factor Source: ICAO, ACAS
By the 1970’s fatalities undertook a downward trend. Air travel is the safest transport mode.
Fig.1.23 - Number of Yearly Fatalities due to Air Transport Crashes, 1918-2012 Source: Aircraft Crashes Record Office, Geneva.
47
slowness. The sterile oasis of the transit lounge becomes a refuge of unexpected tranquility.”(Gordon 2004) The anonymity that travelers once enjoyed would be given away to full electronic disclosure (X-ray The airport creates 7X more screening, RFID chips, CTX machines). Citizens forgo basic rights in high value job growth than exchange for protection or for the illusion of protection: test with traditional urban centres. undercover agents hiding fake bombs passed the security controls in
1$ invested in aerospace In 2004, the arrival of Airbus A380 with a capacity of 800 passengers yields an extra $1.50 to proved once again airport’s instability and billions were spent in $3.00 in economic activity a staggering percentage of 75%.
upgrading existing terminals. The airport can be defined, from an all-angles perspective, a testing ground for new technologies, the place where the underlying forces of modern living are unveiled. Air travel expanded tenfold in the last 40 years. The number of passengers is up 95-fold from 31 million in 1950 and tripled since 1986. As air fares dropped by 30% only in the last 10 years, today there are 3,1 billion air travelers, out of which 51% are international tourists. Every 2 seconds a commercial airliner lands or takes off. There are 36,4 million commercial flights worldwide, 41.821 airports (3.864 international), 30.000 aircrafts in commercial service and 1397 commercial airlines. The 26 ‘megacities’ of the world, with populations exceeding 10 million, are responsible for more than 20% of air travel worldwide. Also, there are 62 urban agglomerations with 5 million people or more which generate 40% of air travel worldwide. The average travel flight is double from 1950 and stands for 1.827km in 2012. Aviation occupancy rate of 80% is better than those of cars and trains, as by 1970s fatalities undertook a downward trend. Nowadays, air travel is the safest transport mode, although the impact of 9/11 may have changed passenger perception on safety. Modern aircraft fuel efficiency is 3,5 liters per 100 passengers kilometers. This is due to improvements in engine (70%), aerodynamics (25%) and the economy of scale – larger airplanes (5%). 25% of airlines operating costs accounts for fuel and 23% for aircraft maintenance. Aviation industry is responsible for just 1,7% of global green-house gas emissions and the noise pollution is constantly dropping. 1% of global trade volume is airborne, but it represent 35% of global trade value. Economically, airport create sevenfold more high value jobs than traditional city centers and research suggests that 1$ invested in aerospace yields an extra 1,5$ to 3$. Air transport industry supports 58,1 million jobs globally, out of which 8,7 are directly created. The economic global impact of aviation is $2,4 trillion, including the direct, the indirect and the catalytic effects of tourism. Air transport is an important vector in driving economic and social progress, connecting people, countries and cultures. It provides access to global markets, generating trade and tourism. It improves the living standards and ameliorates poverty through tourism and often serves as the only way of reaching remote areas. Aviation facilitates social inclusion and economic growth.
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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
AIRPORTS AND AVIATION IN THE FUTURE „New York to Tokyo could be less than an hour. You could be traveling at 19,000 miles per hour orbitally. After we’ve done the space program, we will be producing supersonic planes, which will go far, far, faster than Concorde.” Richard Branson, CEO Virgin Atlantic & Virgin Galatic, interview on CNBC TV, 6 May 2014.
By 2030 passenger traffic will double and cargo traffic will triple.
By 2030, passenger traffic will double and cargo traffic will triple, growing at a pace of 4,7% annually. By 2032, aviation will concentrate 99% of the long-haul traffic between megacities, comparing to 43% today. Asia-Pacific region will lead in world
Airplanes will travel faster, pollute less and embed top technology that imitate the nature.
traffic. The urban population will reach 5 billion by 2030, contributing to a number of 6,7 billion air passengers. 30% of airplanes will use biofuel, dropping the CO2 emissions by 6070%. Boeing forecasts a global airliner fleet reaching 41.000 planes in 2032. Emerging economies represent 50% of new aircraft demand over the next 20 years. Innovation and research focuses on how will aviation look in the future. Dr. John Tracy, chief technology officer at Boeing, said that “probably 75% of the research and development dollars we invest in the commercial airplane side goes towards improving our environmental footprint.” For example, Airbus studies the possibility of flying in formation, like birds, to
Fig.1.24 - NASA prototype (source: http://nasa.gov)
reduce energy use. But instead of operating dozens of separate flights, Airbus considers that airlines could have giant aircraft carriers on which smaller planes would dock. Also, Airbus thought of a way to reduce fuel consumption and pollution during takeoff by introducing eco-climbing – a track system accelerated using either electro-magnetic motors or an inductive circuit within the aircraft itself. By 2015
Fig.1.25 - Supersonic flight could return - Lockheed Martin airplane (source: http://lockheedmartin.com)
Lockheed Martin is expected to develop a business jet capable of crossing Atlantic in 4 hours. Funded by the European Commission, the hypersonic commercial airplane will have a cruise speed of 22.400km/h. It would travel through space after being lunched by a rocket. A partnership conducted by NASA created an airplane prototype with a 71 decibels decrease in noise emissions and a 70% improvement in fuel efficiency, which is to be mass-produced from 2030. An idea with similar results was brought up by a MIT team. Airplanes
Fig.1.26 - Bionic structure for airplanes by Airbus (source: http://airbus.com)
of the future would embed an extra-wide fuselage, hybrid 49
energy (methane, solar panels, turboelectric distribution propulsion, seed and algal fuel) or fully electric planes, super-conducting materials (with 0 resistance), cryogenic technology, vertical takeoff and steep Maximum flying landing for lower noise pollution, 3d printing of parts, morphing seats speed reached by an for more comfort and modular autonomous parts. Depending on how experimental commercial fast technology evolves, the 0 emission airplane will be common in aircraft is 9.800km/h. 2050. In 2012, an experimental aircraft flew at a speed of Mach 8 – 9.800 km/h. Until 2012, the fastest speed of a commercial plane was attributed to Tupolev Tu-144 – 1.510km/h. Biomimicry is the next trend in airplane technology. Airbus researchers
Biomimicry is the next trend in airplane (not metal or plastic), but plant fibers. The materials would self-clean technology. believe that in 40 years planes will be made using renewable materials and self-repair in case of impact. Some aircrafts component could
change shape and be transparent, to offer better views. Separated cabins for increased comfort of passengers could transform into bedrooms, offices or anything else, using virtual reality. Cabins could also be individual capsules which would allow to continue the travel on road, rail or air to the final destination. Aviation will broaden people choice of leisure and cultural experiences. In 20 years the aviation industry is to support 103 million jobs and $5,8 trillion in GDP. “Partnership is key if the economies of the 2030s are going to be able to take full advantage of the benefits that aviation has delivered to the world over the last 100 years.”, says Michael Gill, executive director of Air Transport Action Group at 2014 Global Sustainable Aviation Summit in Geneva, Switzerland.
Fig.1.27 - Bionic structure for airplanes that mimics the bone structure of birds. (source: http://airbus.com) 50
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
CONCLUSION “International airline routes are the quintessential manifestation of 21st century globalization. They are our high-speed physical Internet, moving people and products quickly and efficiently over long distances. Airports are its routers, attracting time-critical, globally-connected businesses of all types to their environs, creating a new urban form.” J.D. Kasarda
Air travel is increasingly accesible. Aviation industry is rapidly growing. Airports are built for transit as machines that capture and control flows. They are unstable systems which constantly overcome their own limitations, adapting to technological progress. They are multifunctional transport and commercial hubs and the world’s most central places. However, jurisdictionally and culturally they are a non-place. Airports are agents of globalization and part of a “global city of bits”(Fuller and Harley 2004). “I suspect that the airport will be the true city of the 21st century. The great airports are already the suburbs of an invisible world capital, a virtual metropolis whose fauborgs are named Heathrow, Kennedy, Charles de Gaulle, Nagoya, a centripetal city whose population forever circles its notional center (…).” J.G. Ballard Aviation is a profitable growing global industry, expecting 1,6 billion passenger flights in 2030, twice as many as today. Air travel becomes more accessible and cheaper everyday and more people afford to travel by air. People travel for business purposes, medical care (47 million Americans have no medical insurance), holiday and relaxation (e.g.: shopping tourism), studying (e.g.: Erasmus students), religious tourism (e.g.: Mecca and Jerusalem), cultural tourism (e.g.: festivals and music concerts), etc. The cargo delivered by air is also vital in every economy: from the iPhone assembled with parts coming from 3 continents to fruits, fish and flowers, the entire world’s population depends on it. When the Icelandic volcano erupted in April 2010 and European airspace was forced to shutdown for more than a week, six million travelers were trapped and millions others were grounded at home. Musicians and sportsmen missed performances and marathons and Obama, Sarkozy and Merkel missed the funeral of the Polish president Lech Kaczynski who died in a plane crash. In a week, fresh products disappeared from markets and thousands of farmers were sent home without wages in Kenya. The airlines lost collectively $450 million daily. Technology brings aviation, slowly, but steady, to a 0 emission future. Cities separated by thousands of kilometers connect easier with each other than with towns and villages that lay just beyond their outskirts. Aviation may change the world as we know it, shaping a new way of living, like nomads. Amos Hawley, American sociologist, noted that people tend to live within sixty-minute radius from home, which now means an air commute between Barcelona and London. Living patterns change, being defined less by the horizon of geographical knowledge and more by the limits imposed by the means of transport and communications. The Instant Age means the economy of speed and the survival of the fastest. Thus, “time itself becomes a valuable product” (Kasarda and Lindsay 2011). 51
source: http://e.fastcompany.net 52
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
THE 3 DIMENSIONS OF THE AIRPORT
CHAPTER 2
“The airport leaves the city. The city follows the airport. The airport becomes the city.� J.D. Kasarda
Using the planning literature background and evaluating the airport from a personal point of view, three main characteristics of the airport as an urban amenity have been outlined: the iconic, the utilitarian and the catalytic airport. They are supported by three case studies presented as following.
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TEMPELHOF AIRPORT, BERLIN, GERMANY 1km source: https://maps.google.ro/ 54
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
THE ICONIC AIRPORT – SYMBOL OF A COMMUNITY ‘’Tempelhof is a symbol that is strongly identified with the blockade and the role the airport played in allowing life to go on in the city.’’ Gerhard Braun, professor of urban studies at Berlin’s Free University
Today, the first requirement of an airport is to become a symbol. Its symbolic dimension is powerful because of the global visibility owned to the traffic that passes through the arrival gates. The airport conjures one nation’s state of the art professionals (planning and design), technology (innovation) and services (speed and quality), so as to prove itself in the global community. Airports represent modernity, along with skyscrapers and movies, which means they represent globalization. The airport is a place where local pride and global acknowledgement meet, to favor one user: the traveller. Tempelhof airport in Berlin is a representative study case for analyzing airport as an icon. It achieved its powerful iconic characteristic partly from the design process and partly from its role in history, gaining many “firsts” and unique features: •
Tempelhof was part of the Hitler’s masterplan to make Berlin the “capital of the world”; the terminal building’s design was impressive: built in 1927, and designed to resemble an eagle in flight, it was the first modern airport and one the largest building in the world (the largest air terminal of the day)
•
It was the first airport with an underground railway station
•
It was the first building designed with the help of an early computer (developed by Konrad Zuse, a pioneer of information technology).
•
It had its own electricity and groundwater utility with underground reservoirs
•
The site hosted Orville Wright’s demonstration of flying in 1909
•
It was one of the three most important airport of the WWII (amongst Croydon – London and Bourget – Paris)
•
It is the effective monument of Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949, when occupied Berliners were brought air supplies by the Allies
•
“Gateway to the World” – it was regarded as the unhindered connection with the outside uncommunist world and as a showcase for the arrival of international film, fashion and political celebrities flying into West Berlin.
•
Although out of service, the Tempelhof airport had a distinct place in Germans memory
•
Civil society advocates for entering in UNESCO’s protected sites list 55
YELLOWKNIFE AIRPORT, YELLOWKNIFE, CANADA 4km source: https://maps.google.ro 56
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
THE UTILITARIAN AIRPORT – IN SERVICE OF PEOPLE The airport and air travel can be the only reason life exists in remote regions with extreme weather conditions.
Airports support life. This impressive feature was proven throughout the entire last century. In harsh conditions, in remote or highly inaccessible areas, food, water, medicine and clothes are brought by air to those in need. Airport prove themselves as the last hope and the ultimate redemption when everything else fails. Situated in extreme conditions, Yellowknife airport in Yellowknife town, Canada, near the Arctic, is a relevant example: •
All the products of diamond mining industry in Yellowknife are transported during mid-winter, when the ice of Great Slave Lake is thick enough; during summer, the ferries don’t have enough capacity to ensure traffic’s fluence; authorities look for a way to build a bridge, but air transport still look as the most viable and cheap solution to connect the remote Yellowknife to civilization
•
In times of extreme weather conditions, when roads are impracticable, air transport provides food, water supplies and medical services for 20.000 urban residents and 43.000 inhabitants of the surrounding region (there is even a TV show regarding the subject: Buffalo Airways for Discovery Channel – Ice pilots)
•
As Northwest territories are generally travelled by air with bush planes (aircraft used to provide unscheduled passenger and freight services to remote locations) they are still the only way to travel year-round to half of the territory’s 33 communities, as well as to most fishing lodges, camps, paddling rivers and parks; thus the Yellowknife airport is a provider of life for surrounding remote communities
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MEMPHIS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, MEMPHIS, U.S.A. 4km source: https://maps.google.ro 58
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
THE CATALYTIC AIRPORT – ECONOMY GENERATOR By attracting business activities, airports sustain and boost local economy.
Airports generate wealth. They attract business enterprises that boost the local economy by offering jobs and taxes and attracting other firms as well. As IATA states, an airport generates seven times more high paid jobs than a traditional urban center. The airport creates economic opportunities that are translated into the migration of residences and corporations near its fence. Airports as economy generators are found all over, but they are most obvious in the new developed countries and their emerging cities: Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore, etc. However, Memphis International Airport played a historical role in shaping the airport driven economy, judging by how it transformed Memphis city, Tennessee, U.S.A.: •
Until 1970s, Memphis economy was based on cotton, being world’s largest cotton market, the world’s largest hardwood lumber market and world’s largest mule market
•
When IBM gave birth to the Information Age by convincing its clients that every broken electronic component would be fixed or replaced, a former marine pilot named Fred Smith started the Federal Express company – a fleet of jets carrying spare parts for IBM computers; by aerially connecting every point from U.S.A. to Memphis, which was attractive for its central location in U.S.A., the city turned into a nexus; its most valuable asset wasn’t cotton, but accesibility and speed
•
Federal Express charged its clients with high prices for its performance to deliver anything anywhere int he U.S. overnight. Today, FedEx carry 75% of all U.S. cargo. As a result, Memphis is the busiest cargo airport in the world.
•
The airport sits in a system of warehouses, companies, factories, office parks, and many firms move there just to benefit from the proximity to a national employer like FedEx
•
Researchers from the University of Memphis measured the airport’s impact on the city. “They discovered it was indirectly responsible for nearly half of the local economy, worth $28,6 billion, and for 220.154 jobs – one of every three in the region.”(Kasarda and Lindsay 2011)
CONCLUSION Schlaak differentiates four types of interaction between airports and cites, the symbiotic, the competitive, the parasitic and the isolated. The study cases reveal how important is for the 21st century city to embrace the airport as a symbol, to integrate it amongst its urban amenities and to enhance its economic growth with a symbiotic relationship between the city and the airport. 59
source: http://metropolisoftomorrow.tumblr.com 60
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
AIRPORT DRIVEN URBAN DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS CHAPTER 3 “Airports reconfigure geography. Airports are geo – mechanical – digital forms that are changing the contours of land, sea and sky.”(Fuller and Harley 2004) “Look for yesterday’s busiest train terminals and you will find today’s great urban centers. Look for today’s busiest airports and you will find the great urban centers of tomorrow.” J.D. Kasarda
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COLUMBIA METROPOLITAN AIRPORT, COLUMBIA, U.S.A. 1km source: http://maps.google.ro 62
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
AIRFRONT
THEORIST Blanton Whit (2004) – urban planner DEFINITION The airfront is an airport - related commercial zone. The airfront describes a myriad of commercial, industrial, and transportation facilities and services in tight connection with the airport (Blanton 2004). LOCATION Airport fringe LEAD ACTORS Local community, private – public partnership SUSTAINABILITY ASPECTS Economic: Business district model Environmental: Mitigation and amelioration Social: Benefits from improvement districting Governance: Special planning district DESCRIPTION The airfront emerges as a feasible professional planning strategy for district improvement, without necessarily addressing broader structural governance issues. The uses of the airport fringe zones include car rental facilities, hotels and meeting facilities, freight and cargo services, manufacturing, and warehousing; all requiring or dependent upon frequent air connections and sometimes down at heel. They are special districts with coordinated planning assisting economic development revitalization and noise mitigation (Blanton 2004, Wong 2006) Examples: metropolitan airports in U.S.A. - Columbia Metropolitan Airport 63
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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
AIRFRONT CONCEPT Airfront means urban development right near the airport fence.
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SPRUCE CREEK AIRPORT, SPRUCE CREEK, U.S.A. 1km source: http://maps.google.ro 66
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
DECOPLEX
THEORIST McKinley Conway (1993) – aviation pilot, engineer, consultant, entrepreneur and politician DEFINITION The decoplex is an airport community in regional setting. The decoplex stands for ecological development complex; it’s an intermediate-scale urban setting featuring a jetport alongside planned industrial sites, offices, hotels, and waste treatment facilities with all core units having direct runway taxiways. It anticipates the airport city idea, and the ideal site area is up to 8,000 hectares (Conway 1993). The decoplex represents a fully integrated mixed-use airport concept. LOCATION Regional setting LEAD ACTORS Master developer SUSTAINABILITY ASPECTS Economic: Regional industrial-leisure complex Environmental: Ideal of resource self-containment Social: Community stakeholders Governance: Master planned community DESCRIPTION The decoplex offers the most didactic spatial vision as an old-fashioned blueprint for an aviation community, but essentially retreats to a regional setting. It is conceived by Conway as a model for airport communities, with the runway as a main street. It can take the shape of a small-scale airport business parks or a fly-in residential and leisure community (not uncommon in the United States) It can also be used for larger planned unit developments “with all the components of a typical small town” as a “functionally efficient center of economic development”(Conway 1980). The decoplex advantage is that it confines a master planned community. The main advantage of a fly-in community is the possibility of taxiing the plane to the house, office or factory, without losing time with traffic, boarding and unboarding procedures, check-in, etc. Also, Decoplex limitates urban growth. Example: Spruce Creek –U.S.A. 67
DECOPLEX CONCEPT The decoplex is a fly-in community, where the runway is the main boulevard.
68
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
SPRUCE CREEK FLY-IN COMMUNITY, U.S.A. source: http://www.7fl6.com/
SPRUCE CREEK FLY-IN COMMUNITY, U.S.A. source: http://oceanprops.com 69
SCHIPHOL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS 1km source: http://maps.google.ro 70
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
AIRPORT CITY
THEORIST Guller Mathis and Guller Michael (2003) – architects and urban planners McKinley Conway (1993) – aviation pilot, engineer, consultant, entrepreneur and politician URBAN PLANNING PRINCIPLES: Modern planning (1890s-1970s), urbanization: garden city, city of tomorrow Post – modern planning (1980’ to present), desurbanization: suburbanism DEFINITION The airport city is a planned mixed – use development with airport related activities in airport abutting area. It is “the more or less dense cluster of operational, airport-related activities, plus other comercial and business concerns, on and around the airport platform.” (Guller and Guller 2003) “In spatial terms, the concept denotes directly airport-connected commercial land development, the scale of which is driven by several critical factors including air connectivity, regional economic potential, the commercial attitude of the airport operator, and the supportiveness of the public decision-making environment” (Peneda in Freestone and Baker 2011). LOCATION Airport land LEAD ACTORS Airport owner SUSTAINABILITY ASPECTS Economic: Mixed use centers with non-aeronautical development Environmental: Higher density compact development Social: Airport orientation Governance: Airport authority
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AIRPORT CITY CONCEPT The airport city transforms the airport from a transport hub into a multifunctional hub.
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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK DESCRIPTION Airports evolve to airport cities. The airport city is a compact development driven primarily by airport interests. The airport city expands the conventional function of airports as transport hubs for people and cargo into a range of added-value activities, due to convergence of several commercial trends (e.g.: the need for airport authorities for additional sources of income and the relocation of high technology industries in the vicinity of the airport). According to Schaafsma, Amkreutz, and Guller (2008), airport cities have four major development directions: shopping malls included in the terminals; commercial offices; air cargo facilities; tourism, leisure, and health facilities. These are combined in different percentages, depending on market opportunities. Like the other models, the airport city comes from existing trends, especially the marketing concept for Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport from the 1980s, which attracted additional income as complementing airport taxes and parking fees. Conway (1978), in his book The Airport City, considers the airport cities as extensions of airports and advocates for airport cities on all scales, from international airports to small fly-in communities. He does not consider them firstly as drivers of airport developments, but rather as purely providers for aviation and business needs. Conway creates a model of the airport city, which consists of three major zones arranged concentrically around the airport: a first red zone (2000-4000 hectares) in the immediate vicinity of the airport for aircraft operation purposes (“runways, navigational aids, taxiways, aircraft parking aprons, fuel and service facilities as well as passenger terminals” – Conway 1993); a blue zone of 4000 to 8000 hectares for aviation-related uses (industrial and office parks, hotel and utility zones related to the primary airport operation) around the central red zone; and a green zone that it is reserved for other uses (Timbrell, Foth and Hearn 2006). Example: Schiphol International Airport, Amsterdam
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ZURICH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, ZURICH, SWITZERLAND 1km source: http://maps.google.ro 74
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
AIRPORT CORRIDOR
THEORIST Maurits Schaafsma, Joop Amkreutz, Mathis Güller (2008) Maurits Schaafsma - urban planner Joop Amkreutz – economist Mathis Güller – architect and urban planner URBAN PLANNING PRINCIPLES: Post – modern planning (1980s to present), desurbanization: edge city, exurbanism Post – modern planning (1980s to present), reurbanization: Compact city/new urbanism Network city/global city DEFINITION The airport corridor is a coordinated development of infrastructure and commercial uses. The airport corridor links the airport and the central city with an integrated road and rail infrastructure and property development, as a continuous high density mixed-use urban axis. The airport corridor is a multiplication of edge cities along an important transport infrastructure between the airport and the downtown. LOCATION Airport – CBD axis LEAD ACTORS Private developers; public infrastructure authorities SUSTAINABILITY ASPECTS Economic: Mutual airport-city development strategies Environmental: Mix of densities suited to location Social: Potential welfare strategies Governance: Public–private coordination
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AIRPORT CORRIDOR CONCEPT The airport corridor balances aviation and non-aviation uses.
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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
DESCRIPTION The airport corridor is an incremental concept situated between the aerotropolis and the airport city. It gravitates around the transit-oriented development (Curtis, Renne, and Bertolini 2009) and it is uphold by the social equity, as the airport has “the strongest economic growth with the strongest social inequalities in the metropolitan area” (Schaafsma, Amkreutz, and Guller 2008). The airport corridor distinguishes itself with its focus on intermodal connectivity and ease in the use of transport. The concept was first used as a spatial and socio-economic model by Martin Schaafsma for Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. The axis between the airport and the city comprising development and business opportunity represent the corridor. The airport corridor includes the airport city and a series of edge cities, turning the focus on a larger metropolitan area. The airport corridor is a multi-core development that balances aviation and non-aviation needs in order to achieve a common interest between local authorities, the business community, the airlines and the airport, with the goal of a competitive city region and a thriving airport. The corridor zone is regarded as “the city’s backyard, a governmental vacuum of small municipalities and weak regional authorities, out of reach of the city or metropolitan authorities and neglected by the urban planners because it is neither city, nor airport”(Schaafsma 2008). The corridor concept vision is to transform this neglected space into an integrated economic zone. “The strength and vitality of the corridor is driven by such factors as airport size and geographic monopoly, landside transportation connectivity, land availability, leadership from airport or city or in coalition, the makeup of the regional economy, institutional arrangements, and development vision”(Freestone and Baker 2011). The most clearly defined corridors occur in city regions with close proximity between a major airport and a CBD (e.g.: Sydney), madeto-measure governance structures (e.g.: Paris and Zurich) and massive public investment in infrastructure (e.g.: Singapore, Hong Kong). Examples: Schiphol International Airport and Amsterdam’s Zuidas, Zurich Kloten Airport - Zurich, Charles de Gaulle Airport - Paris
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DUBAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 5km source: http://maps.google.ro 78
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
AEROTROPOLIS
THEORIST John D. Kasarda (2000) – economist originally trained as a sociologist URBAN PLANNING PRINCIPLES: Modern planning (1890s -1970s), urbanization: City of tomorrow Post – modern planning (1980s to present), desurbanization: Suburbanism, edge city, exurbanism DEFINITION The aerotropolis is a time – sensitive metropolitan scatter of airport – oriented uses. “An aerotropolis is basically an airport-integrated region, extending as far as sixty miles from the inner clusters of hotels, offices, distribution and logistics facilities.” (Kasarda and Lindsay 2011) The aerotropolis consists in an airport city at the core of a wider metropolis , interconnected by highways (“aerolanes”) and high-speed rail links (“aerotrains”) with peripheral aviation-oriented businesses such as e-commerce fulfillment centers, business and logistic parks, retail complexes, hotels, expo and conference centers and free trade zones. This includes time-sensitive goods-processing and distribution facilities (the “cold chain”- fish, ocean fruits, flowers, fruits), firms dependent on frequent business travel and other opportunistic economic activity. LOCATION Airport – centered metro LEAD ACTORS Private market SUSTAINABILITY ASPECTS Economic: Building competitive advantage into Environmental: Low density spread city Social: Business orientation Governance: Mixed jurisdictional for planned versus unplanned
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AEROTROPOLIS CONCEPT The aerotropolis beautifies the airport as the gate to the city.
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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK DESCRIPTION The development of an aerotropolis means coordination and cooperation on a huge scale. The aerotropolis is a new metropolitan form organized around airports, including all the components of an airport city, but in a more integrated planned framework. The aerotropolis includes a set of concentric rings of specific activities around the airport: an inner zone of distribution centers, logistics complexes, and just-in-time manufacturers, then a ring of office parks, hotels, restaurants, and convention centers, followed by largely a residential periphery. Cutting across all these rings are aerolanes and the aerotrains, insuring rapid connection with the metropolitan territory. Three main principles are obvious in aerotropolis concept: development clusters separated by green, high-quality urban design standards and the beautifying of the airport as a gate to the city. Kasarda understands the aerotropolis mainly as a business-orientated concept, considering the proximity to airport as the key feature to succeed in business, which means that the urban planning principles are still inchoative at this stage and include flaws from modern planning principles (segregation of uses, lowdensity developments). The airport is considered an upmarket economic engine, attracting primarily higher income users (van Wijk 2007): first class office buildings, housing, hotels, entertainment and educational facilities for high-income groups (Hack 2000). Examples: Dubai, Dallas-Fort Worth International, Ekurhuleni, Cairo, Tehran, Denver, Memphis, Beijing, Helsinki and Hyderabad
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DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, DENVER, U.S.A. 10km source: http://maps.google.ro 82
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
AIREA
THEORIST Johanna Schlaak (2010) - planner URBAN PLANNING PRINCIPLES: Post – modern planning (1980s to present), reurbanization: Compact city/new urbanism Network city/global city DEFINITION The airea is a discrete spatial clusters of airport – related development. The airea consists of “spatial, functional and governmental specific space(s)” spread at a metropolitan level of scale, strongly connected to the airport (Knippenberger 2010). The airea is a complex network having the airport as a core. It can also be defined as a “heterogenic configuration of spread islands within the wider metropolitan area” which are either physically, functionally or from a marketing point of view connected to the airport (Schlaack 2010). The airea is a network of partly-isolated urban nodes, with the role of multifunctional subcenters complementing the city center, around a core which is released of the urban pressure. LOCATION Metropolitan sub-region LEAD ACTORS Private market SUSTAINABILITY ASPECTS Economic: Multiplicity of economic development and marketing nodes Environmental: Polycentric urban form Social: Business orientation Governance: Regional planning
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AIREA CONCEPT The airea is characterized by flexibility and fast accessibility.
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THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK DESCRIPTION The airea is similar to the aerotropolis, but is framed more from a metropolitan rather than an airport perspective and is more flexible in spatial form, scale, and complexity than the other models (Freestone and Baker 2011). In this spatial model, the airport’s influence is disaggregated into various ‘‘fragmented islands of development’’ complexly relating between each other and the airport. Rather than focusing only on the airport and its surroundings, the airea represents a group of separated development islands in tight correlation with the airport, laying within a greater metropolitan region (Schlaak in Knippenberger 2010). The airea is not planned, but it generates itself from bottom-up according to economic needs, spatial layout and infrastructural adjacencies. This can result in unregulated, uncoordinated and sprawling developments, “faceless business parks sprawling alongside traffic corridors and unstructured suburban residential areas” (Knippenberger 2010). The airea does not include the whole city organism, but only smaller entities within the metropolitan context. The airea is different from the other concepts as it defies a spatial continuity, access time being the key element. Example: Denver – Denver International Airport
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A CRITIC OF AIRPORT DRIVEN URBAN DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS
Using the three conventional pillars of sustainability, economic, social, environmental, but also adding governance, the analysis on the airport driven urban development spatial models reveals the following: The Economic Dimension •
All economic impacts of airport have been extensively documented
•
Airports are described as economic gateway to growth
•
Kasarda himself admits risks in development: nature and scale of airport activity, urban context, government support, transportation accessibility, land cost and real estate speculation (Kasarda 2000, Dempsey, Goetz and Szyliowicz 1997, Green 2007, Moore-Wilton 2007, Sadler 2007 in Freestone and Baker 2011)
•
The real politic of aviation industry is “airlines go to markets, not to airports” (Freestone and Baker 2011)
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Other constraints: land tenure restrictions, interjurisdictional issues, adjacent residential areas
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Prosperi (2007) considers that the aerotropolis model lacks realistic economic assessments, being too simplistic and optimistic
•
Studies show that 40% of Schiphol’s urban development is represented by non-aviation uses, attracted by the economies of agglomeration - high density of spatial connections, prestige, open land, etc. (Warffemius, van der Hoorn, Klaassen 2008)
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Gottdenier (2001) questions the viability of all airports as growth poles
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Development around airports can prove difficult to be planned (van Wijk 2008)
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Many airports are constrained by the unavailability of land
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In some cases, passengers’ numbers don’t produce economy, as they simply transfer between aircrafts
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Regional economies can become too dependent on air traffic, becoming very vulnerable
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The disadvantages of being close to the airport can outscore advantages for certain firms (Hoare 1973)
“The economic benefits of airport driven urban developments are certainly there, especially for pathdependent long-established airport areas, but their sustainability is challenged by cyclical downturn, dramatic exogenous shocks affecting negatively on air traffic volumes and the degree of overall regional resilience.”(Freestone and Baker 2011) The Environmental Dimension •
fossil fuel alternatives is a main issue (Newman 2007)
•
contribution of aviation to climate change and the projections of significant CO2 increases (Gossling and Upham 2009, Macintosh and Downie 2007) – 66% of European airports have operational limitations on environmental ground
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the hazard risk to a critical infrastructure (meteorological, seismic threats) extended to airport’s vicinity
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK (Charles et al 2007) •
use of older less environmental-friendly airplanes
•
the aerotropolis model encourages low-density urban development
Airport driven urban developments can amplify the environmental negative effects of airports by attracting more traffic, generating more pollution and encouraging an industry considered profoundly unsustainable. The Social Dimension •
airscape can became an indistinct repetitive panorama all over the world, insensitive to local identity. Airport area risks to become a non-place
•
relocation of neighborhoods to allow further expansion of airports
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encouragement of dystopic societies: a high class of expats working for multinationals and low-wage workers hired for logistics (Lindsay 2006)
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exclusion of poor people – Songdo City, part of Incheon Airport aerotropolis (Campbell 2005)
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low taxing and free economic zones can become exploitative places for cheap labour
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the segregation caused by “hermetically sealed” transport infrastructure between business travelers and top-end tourists and non-globalized residents and urban landscapes (Graham and Marvin 2001)
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Airport driven urban developments may cause deep social segregation between glomads (international travelers) and unadapted interlopers (lower-class poor social class).
The Governance Dimension •
airport regions lie in the “crossfire of differing ambitions”: airport owners and operators, entrepreneurs, local and national authorities, infrastructure providers, development agencies (Guller and Guller 2003)
•
weak or poor solutions regarding handling conflicts and implementation
•
no specific designs or policies to explain the models
•
airports have been for long “black holes” in metropolitan planning strategies
•
a large number of authorities involved
•
difficulty in the transferability and adaptability of certain planning models from a country to another
Airport driven urban developments need to improve their governance dimension, and even so they will encounter implementing difficulties related to each country’s governance system.
CONCLUSION Airport territory is a contested space, being shaped by powerful economic and political forces. The inconvenient truth of climate change grew conservative opinions of restraining development (e.g.: the hassle around London’s Heathrow third runway). The already existing pollution, noise and traffic congestion adds to the impacts of urban sprawl, segregation, economic restructuring, etc. As Schlaak differentiates four types of interaction between airports and cites, the symbiotic, the competitive, the parasitic, and the isolated, judging by this relationship, megacities and their economies have either risen, fallen or stagnated in the global contest for competitiveness. In this struggle, airport driven urban development concepts are the avatars of globalization and the next step that the world is already assuming to make. 87
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AN OUTLINE OF MALAYSIA AND KUALA LUMPUR
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GLOBAL & LOCAL IN GREATER KL
CHAPTER 1
This is thought by many to be the “Asian century”. Over the last 10 years, Asia has emerged as a global hotspot for economic growth, despite the global economic crisis. By 2020, 54% of the middle-class population of the world will live in Asia. By 2050, 51% of the global GDP is forecasted to be captured by Asia.
QUICK FACTS ABOUT MALAYSIA AND KUALA LUMPUR 1st growing economy in Asia (7% constant rise of GDP for the last 25 years) 1st emerging market city in terms of physical infrastructure is Kuala Lumpur 1st growing airport in Asia is Kuala Lumpur International Airport (19%/year) 2nd most competitive city in Southeast Asia 2nd largest exporter of liquefied natural gas after Qatar in 2011 3rd place in AT Kearney’s 2011 global service location index 3rd top tourism destination in Asia, after Bangkok and Singapore 4th busiest international airport in Asia by passenger traffic 5th most attractive city for medical tourism (1,9 mil. tourists expected by 2020) 6th country in Bloomberg’s Top 20 Global Emerging Markets. 9th most visited city in the world (9,2m tourists) 11th place in AT Kearney’s Global Retail Development Index in 2011 14th 2012 most competitive country in the world 78/140 Ranking of Kuala Lumpur in the Economist Intelligence Unit Most Livable Cities Kuala Lumpur is a gateway to ASEAN community: in 2 hours flying-time 600 million people can be reached. In 4 hours flying-time 22% of the world’s population is within reach. Due to its strategic position, Greater Kuala Lumpur is being marketed in three ways: hub for business, innovation and talent. 91
GLOCAL KUALA LUMPUR
Starting from the quote of J.D. Kasarda, one of the promoters of airport driven urban development, Greater Kuala Lumpur was analysed using a new-born urban instrument: “global & local”. While global means elements of interest in global economy (tourism, transport, connectivity, knowledge), local signifies the sum of specific, local and unique elements that characterize Greater Kuala Lumpur (natural environment, local economy, culture, local transport connections, heritage, etc.). The analysis identifies how global and local elements are distributed in Greater Kuala Lumpur and how they relate between eachother.
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GREATER KL 4495 sq. km. 10 local authorities 6 mil. inhabitants – 20% of national population It produces 30% of GNI (Gross national income) The engine of the Malaysian economic growth
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MALAYSIA, AT THE HEART OF ASIA
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MALAYSIA & KL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
CHAPTER 2
“We are positioning Greater Kuala Lumpur as a regional hub. We want to launch a platform for multinationals who want to capitalize on the Asia story and we aim to be at the forefront.” Zainal Amanshah, the Chief Executive Officer of InvestKL, the government agency established to draw foreign investment into the city “Asia is the new global economic center, with China and India leading the way. Malaysia, one of Asia’s emerging powerhouses, is responding to this change by shifting her focus from a labor-intensive, lowtechnology economy to a knowledge-based, high-technology economy.” Rauf Rashid, Country Managing Partner, Malaysia, Ernst & Young
GATEWAY TO A.S.E.A.N. – GREATER KUALA LUMPUR AS A TRANSPORT HUB 600 million people can be reached in 2 hours flying time.
Greater Kuala Lumpur has a well-developed infrastructure that positions the city as a transport hub: Klang port is the largest port in the country and it is equipped with state of the art technology for fast cargo operations. Kuala Lumpur airport has the fastest growing
28% of world population can be reached in 6 hours flying time.
passenger traffic in Asia and it is linked to the city center with high-speed railways. Greater Kuala Lumpur has a radial-concentric network of highways that penetrate the city up to downtown. Once an important point on the Silk Road because of its advantageous positioning, Kuala Lumpur is a regional hub from where 600 million people can be reached in a 2-hours-flying time and almost a third of global population in a 6-hours-flying time. Policies: National Transformation Policy 99
Fig.2.1 - Kuala Lumpur flying radius (source: IMF World Economic Outlook database 2009 and EIU ViewsWire)
STOP BRAINDRAIN – GREATER KUALA LUMPUR AS A TALENT HUB “The one thing that can stop a city cold in its tracks is not having enough of the right kind of talented people, or not being able to attract those kinds of people,” says Kevin Stolarick, research director at
There are 1mill. Malaysian emigrants. 30% represent braindrain.
Martin Prosperity Institute. Kuala Lumpur is an example of a city whose otherwise strong growth prospects are set back by talent shortages, exacerbated by the steady emigration of skilled locals, many of whom leave for better prospects in Singapore or elsewhere, according to the World Bank. Brain drain is defined as the emigration of high-skill individuals, where a high-skill emigrant is a foreign-born individual, aged 25 or more, with an academic or professional degree beyond high school. Malaysia wants to attract top talent by providing a wide range of benefits. On one hand, it addresses the 1 million Malaysian emigrants, out of which 30% are under 30 highly-qualified individuals. On the other hand, it regards highly-skilled expatriates seeking to continue 100
Fig.2.2 - Malaysian diaspora is geographically concentrated (source: Department of immigration Malaysia)
AN OUTLINE OF MALAYSIA AND KUALA LUMPUR living and working in Malaysia on a long-term basis and also enables spouse to apply for employment in Malaysia. In order to attract talent, Malaysia develops the following assets: lifelong learning opportunities, mobility, positive country branding, high level of freedom of mind, inspiring working environment, diversity, accessible talent borders and skill recognition institutions. Fig.2.3 - 75% immigrants intend to return to Malaysia if convenient (source: Department of immigration Malaysia)
247.500 emigrants are willing to return to Malaysia if given better conditions.
Other policies encourage the development of R&D centers and investment in education (21% of the 2014 budget is allocated for education). Policies: The Returning Experts Programme (REP), Malaysia My Second Home Programme, The FasTrack Programme, Talent Corp, Talent Roadmap 2020
Fig.2.4 - Malaysia current and projected standing in the Heidricks & Struggles Global Talent Index (GTI) (source: Heidricks & Struggles)
Singapore is the most competitive city in Asia. Kuala Lumpur must become a competitor for Singapore. Fig.2.5 - A high quality of life is essential to attract and retain talent (source: Economic Intelligence Unit, “Global Livability Survey”, 2011)
There are five core elements necessary to attract and retain talent: •
COUNTRY BRANDING
•
CREATE IMMIGRATION FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT
•
FOSTER INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC AWARENESS
•
INVEST IN HIGHER EDUCATION & TRAINING
•
INNOVATION 101
STRENGTHEN TRADE AND COMMERCE – GREATER KUALA LUMPUR AS A HALAL HUB
Fig.2.6 - Halal regional market (source:Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation)
Defined as the objects or activities identified as permissible according to the Islamic law, the global halal industry was traditionally centered on the food and beverage sector, but now includes Islamic finance, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
73.2% of global issuance of sukuk originates from Malaysia.
There is a rapid expansion of this industry due to growing Muslim population globally, economic rise of Muslim countries and the emergence of potential new halal markets such as China and India. Kuala Lumpur is situated in the center of a 2 bill. people market for halal products. Policies: 10th Malaysia Plan, New Economic Model, 1Malaysia
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Malaysia’s total assets in the Islamic banking sector represented US$135.8b in 2011.
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BE COMPETITIVE – GREATER KUALA LUMPUR AS A FINANCIAL HUB In 2011, the financial services sector contributed 11.6% to the Malaysian GDP.
There is a pro-business government which supports ease of doing business and open markets, by offering tax exemptions (in some cases 100% for the first 10 years), investor-friendly policies and strong investor protection. Lowest costs in region, lack of natural hazards (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and typhoons) unlike in the neighboring countries, a multilingual skilled force, well regulated
52% reduction in the number of steps needed to obtain business licenses.
banking and financial services industry and a strategic location at the center of Asia are very important assets to attract global investors in Malaysia. Policies: Greater Kuala Lumpur /Klang Valley National Key Economic Area
(NKEA)
transformation
plan,
Economic
Transformation
Programme, Government Transformation Programme, New Economic Model
BECOME A KNOWLEDGE - BASED ECONOMY AND A HIGH INCOME NATION BY 2020 Malaysia is currently a production-based economy and wants to become an innovationbased economy.
Fig.2.7 - Towards a high - income nation status (source: Ernst&Young analysis)
“If Malaysia continues its efforts in diversifying its economy and moving into high-end manufacturing, as well as continue to stress Fig.2.8 - Malaysia’ status towards innovation maximum ranking is 7 (source: Ernst&Young analysis)
high education and human capital formation, then it is capable to achieve its high income nation targets.” World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu 103
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Fig.2.9 -Research and development expenditure (% of GDP) in Malaysia (source: World Bank)
Currently a manufacturing country, Malaysia is making efforts to establish the country as the preferred location in the region for knowledge-based industries and as a hubbing center. The knowledge-
16$bill. - 21% of the budget - was granted for education sector in 2014.
based economy presents the way forward to achieve sustainable rapid growth and remain globally competitive in the medium and long term. Malaysia has set some of the basic foundations of a knowledgebased economy, but efforts will must be made in the key areas of human resource development, science & technology, research & development, infostructure, financing and equity. Private consumption accounts for more than 50% of the country GDP. In 2014, per capita gross national income (GNI) reached $10,060. The
Forecasts show that Malaysia will become a high-income nation by 2020.
same figure stood at $9,970 in 2012, and it’s expected to rise to $15,000 by 2020, exceeding by far the $12,616 per capita GNI that marks a high-income nation, according to the World Bank’s guidelines.
CONCLUSION Become an innovation-based economy and a high income nation. Stop braindrain and bring back young highly-skilled emigrants. Transform Kuala Lumpur into a global hub of infrastructure, business, innovation and talent. Malaysia’s goal is to become a high-income nation by 2020. The target is to transform Greater Kuala Lumpur into one of the top-20 most livable metropolis globally and top-20 in terms of economic growth. To achieve this goal, Kuala Lumpur will become a global hub for business, infrastructure, tourism and innovation, by attracting its most talented individuals into a common public-private effort to transform Malaysia from a production-oriented to a knowledge-based economy. 105
PART 3
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KUALA LUMPUR MASTERPLAN FOR 2030
GREATER KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA source: http://maps.google.ro 108
KUALA LUMPUR MASTERPLAN FOR 2030
KL 2030 MASTERPLAN
“I cannot build this future alone and so I need each and every one of you to walk with me in this journey to bring transformation and the light of hope to all Malaysians.” Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak – Malaysian Prime Minister
Kuala Lumpur is developing extensively. Car-oriented development is a main concern.
By analyzing the pattern of urbanization in Kuala Lumpur, it can be observed that the city is growing horizontally at a very fast pace, and in 2030 Greater Kuala Lumpur will be three times bigger than in 1990. The urban landscape of Kuala Lumpur is a continuous enumeration of peripheries with individual houses and parks, interconnected with a well-developed road infrastructure. The city spreads unconsciously again and again over its former limits, occupying agricultural land and forests. Mobility is an issue and Kuala Lumpur has an automobile oriented development. Public transport is insufficiently developed and hours are spent daily in traffic. What is specific and unique in Kuala Lumpur is replaced by surrogates of global culture. In its run for international competitiveness, Kuala Lumpur is losing identity and tends to become just another example of the international-culture-copying-cities, which shows more pride in Starbucks shops than in its traditional noisy foodmarkets. Fig.3.1 - Extensive development means low living standards (source: http://maps.google.ro) 109
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To be able to become an innovation-based economy and a high-income nation by 2020, Malaysia must invest in people. Malaysia needs more people to graduate its universities and more natives to occupy top positions in corporations. “Producing” must be replaced by “creating” and creative people need to live in a creative environment. In order to succeed, talented individuals must be offered top working, living, relaxing and studying conditions which would attract like a magnet Malaysian emigrants and young foreign graduates. The spearhead of the country’s economy, Kuala Lumpur, must become a hub of growth.
By investing in people sustainable growth is ensured. Five criteria are defined as key elements to attract talented individuals: 1. Country branding 2. Create immigration friendly environment 3. Foster international public awareness 4. Invest in higher education and training 5. Innovation
WHERE TO GROW? In order to fulfill its concentrated in Klang Islands, because it is a placed naturally along vision, Kuala Lumpur has the global axis, at the intersection point with the low flying corridors, it to make a shift in urban offers spatial and governing independence, best accessibility (close to development approach. The expected growth of 114,4sq.km. urbanized area until 2030 is to be
highways, railways and port), it can act as a global hub (in relationship with the port), it will be developed as a manifest – city as an event, it can be easily managed as a free economic zone and it gives the opportunity to confine urban growth.
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KUALA LUMPUR MASTERPLAN FOR 2030
HOW TO GROW? CONCEPT
The masterplan is using the concepts of Garden City, Aerotropolis and Malay traditional villages.
The new Kuala Lumpur must develop differently. It must be able to successfully combine the old with the new in a manner which will grant its uniqueness. Therefore, the Garden City model of Ebenezer Howard and Aerotropolis model of J.D. Kasarda will be used to create the new Kuala Lumpur. As a former English colony, Kuala Lumpur
was developed using Howard’s theory, which can be considered the first sustainable model for a city. But this urban pattern of parks, houses and green belts brought Malaysia’ capital to the inefficient and unsustainable urban layout of today. Using spatial development principles from the Garden City model and complementing them with the functional development principles of the Aerotropolis model, a new type of city can take shape: the sustainable Kuala Lumpur of 2030. 113
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KUALA LUMPUR MASTERPLAN FOR 2030 Considering the spatial model of the Garden City, the new Kuala Lumpur of 2030 will develop along the shores of Klang Islands as an urban strip having a width of 550m, thus preserving the mangrove forest in the middle as a natural park. This lacustrine existing traditional settlement
urban pattern is characteristic for the traditional Malaysian villages, called Bandars. Each island will have distinct vocations, and their use is dictated by the proximity to the airport and to the port and by the relationship with the natural environment: The Industrial Island, The Green City Island, The Holiday Island, the Kampung Island and The Aero City Island. The density of urbanization differs according to the relationship with the infrastructural ring, the
Sea level is expected to rise 2m in the next 100 years. KL Masterplan for 2030 considers a resilient development.
airport and the urban agglomeration of Greater Kuala Lumpur. The islands will host aviation-related uses, triggering economic prosperity and possibility to reach the vision of a high-income nation with a knowledge-based economy: offices, conference and exhibition centers, hotels, malls and street retail, markets, medical centers, Research&Development
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AERO CITY centers, logistics, high-tech industries, universities, campuses and housing. The transport system is intermodal: water, rail and road transport interconnect the islands and the continent. A ring-shaped avenue with two different profiles (a wider profile of 55m – between the continent and the Aero City Islands and between the continent and the Green City Island and another section of 35m – between the Aero City Island, through Holiday Island and Kampung Island, to the Green City Island) ensures fast train and vehicle access to the islands and to the airport. The city center of the entire development is the airport itself, which is a suspended complex structure that includes a 168 million-passengers-capacity airport, a 1.590 ha city and a port for cruises and cargo.
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KUALA LUMPUR MASTERPLAN FOR 2030 THE GREEN CITY ISLAND This island will host most of the new residents and will provide the living quality needed to attract the departed highly-qualified Malaysian emigrants. The mix of uses will reproduce the diversity and the vitality of the Asian city, but a set of rules will ensure the quality, the rigidity or the flexibility of the urbanization process. In this island one should easily find comfortable living conditions: residential areas for middle and high class, universities, campuses, R&D centers, hospitals, high-tech industrial parks, offices, commercial streets, parks, etc. This Island is to be called home by the young and highly-qualified Malaysian emigrants, about whom statistics show that 247.500 are willing to return, if given attractive living and working conditions. It also addresses the medical tourists by offering a wide range of international hospitals and medical care centers situated in a natural environment. THE INDUSTRIAL ISLAND It is a high-density development along the ring road and the port. It comprises distinct zonings with different approaches: the industrial zone – logistics and manufacturing are placed next to Port Klang, , being crisscrossed by streets bordered with services, parks and leisure facilities; the residential zone – separated by the manufacturing area with vegetation, offers offices, street retail, urban amenities and blocks of flats; the mixed-use zone – separated by the ring road and surrounded by forest, has all the facilities necessary for living and working; the technological park – a cluster of high-tech firms placed in a forest; the leisure zone – parks, golf courses, sports ground, resorts and restaurants. This mixed use development will prove to have catalytic value, attracting the investors’ interest in the area and making possible the implementation of the entire masterplan for Kuala Lumpur 2030. THE KAMPUNG ISLAND The village is very important in Malaysian culture. Malaysian people go to their native village once a year to purify their body and soul from the city’s hustle and to reconnect to their ancient roots. This island is built like a contemporary village and includes residences, community centers, markets, agricultural park, forests, etc. This island is built for both residential and relaxation purposes. THE HOLIDAY ISLAND Will provide all the facilities necessary to spend a unique vacation in a resort on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Resorts designed as traditional Malaysian houses and palaces spread along rivers and deepen into the forest, grant a unique atmosphere never to be found elsewhere: resorts, sports grounds, golf courses, forest, rivers, fauna, etc. This island addresses the already large number of tourists that visit Kuala Lumpur for its well-known beautiful golf courses and natural landscapes. THE AERO CITY ISLAND It hosts an entire gigantic structure that combines an airport, a city and a port. This urban development is ambitious in vision and yet specific in style, and it will be the global gate to and from Kuala Lumpur. It will be detailed in the following chapter. 121
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The phasing of the new development ensures in the first stage the connection between Kuala Lumpur and the airport. In the second phase, The Green City Island is partly built and a new segment of the ring crosses the sea. In the last phase, Green City Island is completed and the ring closes around the newly constructed Holiday Island and Kampung Island.
AERO CITY ISLAND INDUSTRIAL ISLAND GREEN CITY ISLAND
AERO CITY ISLAND INDUSTRIAL ISLAND GREEN CITY ISLAND HOLIDAY ISLAND KAMPUNG ISLAND
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AERO CITY
AERO CITY ISLAND
T
AERO CITY ISLAND CITY CENTER
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KUALA LUMPUR MASTERPLAN FOR 2030 IMPACT The urban impact of the Masterplan Kuala Lumpur for 2030 can be quantified using the traditional airport-driven urban development spatial models. Thus, the airport will develop in proximity uses that characterize an Airport City: offices, logistics, conference and exhibition centers, retail centers and hotels. The next step is a natural evolution to an Airport Corridor between the airport and the downtown of Kuala Lumpur. Along this infrastructural spine, the city will develop faster with both aviation-related uses and other complementary uses: offices, logistics, manufacturing, industrial parks, hotels, residential areas. In the end, the entire Greater Kuala Lumpur will benefit from the economic effect of the airport, becoming an Aerotropolis. This would make the Malaysian capital a global hub of business created by fast local and global accessibility. To be able to fulfill its vision, Kuala Lumpur must embrace this multifaceted solution which addresses specifically to the current problems that Malaysia confronts with: brain drain – Kuala Lumpur of 2030 will offer attractive living and working conditions for both native emigrants and skilled individuals of other nationality; Kuala Lumpur as a hub –building a city around a port and an airport will boost Malaysian economic life and place it along world’s top megacities; towards and innovation-based economy – the new development will center around universities, R&D centers and high-tech industry, creating an appealing environment for innovation; sustainable urban growth – the urban growth will be confined, intensive and diversified in use, transit-oriented, pedestrians- friendly and public transport-encouraging; towards a high-income nation – the catalytic socio-economic effect of this airport-driven urban development on the country’s economy will prove to be a decisive step in achieving this goal.
AEROTROPOLIS
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PART 4 132
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY
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KUALA LUMPUR MASTERPLAN FOR 2030
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY
“Every generation should build its own city.” Antonio Sant’ Elia in Manifesto of Futuristic Architecture “I suspect that the airport will be the true city of the 21st century.” J.G. Ballard
Kuala Lumpur Aero City is the spearhead of the Kuala Lumpur Masterplan for 2030 and it represent the key asset needed to acquire the five necessary conditions to attract talent. It provides country branding by fostering international public awareness through the innovations and technologies implemented, in order to create an immigration- friendly environment designed specifically for education and knowledge. Moreover, the Aero City should be the ace needed to compete with Singapore, where 50% of Malaysian emigrants live. Although Singapore overrates Kuala Lumpur in all the international rankings, by building the Aero City, Kuala Lumpur can be given the chance to climb on top of the global competitiveness rankings.
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CONCEPT
The concept of Kuala Lumpur Aero City derives from two 83-year-old ideas of some visionary architects. Everyday Science and Mechanics publishes in 1931 a utopian project for New York: an airport over a port. The idea was meant to solve the issue of the long time spent by getting to and from the airport. This intermodal node would allow passengers to switch from ship to plane in no time. Also, the pillars holding the airport would integrate offices, warehouses and factories. The entire structure would have had a height of 55 meters, and a footprint of 307x510 meters.
Fig.4.1 - A dream of 1931- an airport over a port (source: http://blog.modernmechanix.com) 136
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY
In 1939 London architect Charles Clever thought about moving the airport to the city center. It had four runways arranged in the form of a giant wheel and the entire structure was supported by the buildings over which it was erected.
Fig.4.2 - An utopia of 1939- an airport over a city (source: http://blog.modernmechanix.com) 137
An airport over a port...
+
...an airport over a city...
=
AN AIRPORT OVER A CITY OVER A PORT
SITE ADAPTATION
AERO CITY 138
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY Considering this utopias of that day, Aero City combines an airport, a city and a port into an adjustable fourlayered structure that is inspired from Malaysian traditional architecture: Aero City stands on inhabitable pillars raised above the water, protecting both the city and the mangrove forest; the city can change its shape by adding or removing parts, like traditional Malaysian houses; the height (+55m – ground level for the city) and the shape allows the aerial currents to cool the city, as the hot and humid weather is a real problem; the airport on the top provides shade with its runways and taxiways and unconventional water and energy resources are harvested using rainwater collection systems and solar panels.
Fig.4.3 - Climate design of Malay house (source: Thompson 2007)
Fig.4.4 - Common addition sequences of Malay houses (source: Thompson 2007)
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BUILDING THE AERO CITY
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY
3,5km 4,5km
Kuala Lumpur Aero City is the ace needed to compete with Singapore.
The size of Aero-City was dictated by several factors: the difference in surface between Kuala Lumpur’s downtown and Singapore’s downtown (1590ha), the airport capacity needed (numbers of terminals and runways to achieve the required passengers and cargo traffic capacity), the length, width, numbers and disposal of runways and taxiways, along with other considerations regarding airport
The City ‘s size, orientation and shape are generated by the airport’s requirements.
planning (distance between runways, safety standards, arrangement of terminals and other airport facilities, etc.). Also, flying corridors and predominant winds were decisive in orienting Aero City so that the runways were safely accessible. The attitude towards green was protective, inspired by the Malaysian
The city floats over forest and water. 684ha of vegetation are created. Energetically, it is selfsufficient.
traditional houses, and the entire city floats over a mangrove forest (moreover, 683,7 ha of vegetation are created). The city would collect water from the runways and taxiways, which represent a 1026 ha roof above the city. Electricity would be provided by a total surface of 208,32 ha solar panels. Aero City is a mega structure that hosts a port and 20 inhabitable pillars at the ground level, an eight-storey city suspended at a 55m
The Aero City is a floating 4-level structure: the port, the city, the airport facilities and the airport.
altitude, a level of airport facilities (passenger, cargo and aircraft areas) placed above the city and beneath the terminals and the airport itself, with passenger and cargo terminals, runways and hangars. Aero City is connected to Kuala Lumpur and to the other islands by water transport and by a ring road doubled with train infrastructure. 141
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY THE AIRPORT
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY THE CITY
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY THE PORT
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY EXISTING SITE The Aero City Island is covered entirely by a mangrove forest and it is part of a greater archipelago having five islands - the Klang islands. This island is not menaced by global sea level rise. It is the closest island to the already existing Klang Port, which is the most important port in the country.
A FORESTED ISLAND WATER 149
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY THE PORT (+5M)
The ground level of Aero City hosts a port for cruises and cargo and 20 inhabitable pillars that sustain the upper structure of the city and of the airport. The port level has a total area of 166ha, out of which 47% belong to the port (cargo port, depots, ship maintenance, cruise port, hotels, offices, restaurants, car rental services, etc.) and 53% to the city (residential areas, offices, universities, hospitals, conference center, hotels and malls). There is a road system connecting the pillars with the port. The pillars sunk in the sea are accessible by water transport. The purpose of this level is to keep the nature untouched as much as possible, as well as to ensure the connection between the air transport and the water transport. Cargo from Klang Port is brought here and lifted to the freight terminal using huge cranes. Also, air freight can be unloaded and carried by ships to Port Klang and then further into the sea or continent.
CROISIERE PORT CARGO PORT RESIDENTIAL OFFICES HOTELS CONFERENCE CENTERS HOSPITALS HIGH-TECH MANUFACTURING 151
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY THE CITY (+55M)
The city is designed to offer high quality living and working conditions for 195.860 residents and 280.000 employees. Structure The city is built on an 1109ha suspended slab at a height of 55m, supported by 20 inhabitable pillars. Underneath there is a port, water and forest, while on top of the city lies the airport. The city has a height of 55m, which include the following levels: •
The infrastructure level (+55 - +60m), exposing pipes, car
parks, metro, lightrail, water tanks, water filtering systems, waste disposal and treatment facilities, and all the urban infrastructure that represent the metabolism of a city. •
The structural slab (+60 - +66m), a giant armored concrete
and steel floor which holds the buildings standing on top of it •
The city (+66 - +92/104m), 1109ha of 5-8-storey buildings
and open spaces meant to provide the best living and working environment in Kuala Lumpur, designed to compete with Singapore and other global cities. •
Structural slab (+104 - +110m) on top of the city, on which the
airport is placed and where airplanes land and take off
OFFICES HOTELS CONFERENCE & EXPO CENTER UNIVERSITIES R&D CENTERS CAMPUSES HOSPITALS HIGH-TECH INDUSTRY
LOGISTICS RETAIL SERVICES RESIDENTIAL PUBLIC SPACES
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AIRPLANES AREA
PASSENGERS AREA
CARGO AREA
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY THE AIRPORT FACILITIES (+92M)
Comprising a total surface of 283ha, the airport facilities occupy the area beneath the airport’s terminals. With a maximum height of 12 meters, they include a passenger area (10%), a cargo area (26%) and an aircraft area (64%). The passenger area provides for restaurants, duty-free shops, car parks, taxi parks, bus parks, etc. The cargo area is designed for manipulating freight: storage, maneuvering, loading and unloading, sorting, etc. The aircraft area insures maintenance services for airplanes and other technical amenities of the airport: staff quarters, electrical substation, service equipment, maintenance depot and offices, aviation refueling depot and facilities, etc.
10% PASSENGERS AREA 26% CARGO AREA 64% AIRPLANES AREA
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY THE AIRPORT (+110M)
The airport, along with its requirements and conditions, served as structure for the entire city. By planning the airport and its flows of people, cargo and airplanes, a spatial layout took shape and dictated the size, orientation and form of Aero City. Considering that the growing rate of Kuala Lumpur International Airport is 19% and that Kuala Lumpur vision is to become a hub in the region, the Aero City would be the largest airport in the world, capable of processing 168 million passengers per year and almost 1 million tons of cargo per year. To accomplish this purpose Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport was used as blueprint, as this is the busiest airport in the world and has the largest capacity for passenger traffic. It has 5 runways, 7 terminals, 95 million passengers/year and 950.119 aircraft operations/ year. For the Aero City airport, runways were extended from 2743m to 4215m, in order to be able to land the heaviest aircrafts of the moment and of the predictable future. Also, two more runways were added to satisfy the traffic requirements until 2030. The airport has 1590ha, out of which 1026ha represent the actual usable space (by excluding the holes between runways and taxiways). There are 88,2ha of buildings: 6 passenger terminals, 1 cargo terminal, a control tower, an airport fire and rescue station, ground service equipments, maintenance depots and offices, aviation refueling depots and facilities, aviation services, meteorological station and facilities.
7 RUNWAYS 8 TERMINALS 1,4 MIL. FLIGHTS/Y 168 MIL. PASSENGER/Y 0,9 MIL. TONS OF CARGO/Y 157
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KUALA LUMPUR
AERO CITY PORT LEVEL (+5M)
166 HA TOTAL AREA 47% PORT 53% CITY 159
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY
KUALA LUMPUR
AERO CITY CITY LEVEL (+55M)
1590 HA TOTAL AREA 1109 HA CITY AREA 36% RESIDENTIAL 23% LOGISTICS & INDUSTRY 24% TERTIARY 19% INNOVATION 161
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY
KUALA LUMPUR
AERO CITY AIRPORT FACILITIES LEVEL (+92M)
283 HA TOTAL AREA 10% PASSENGERS AREA 26% CARGO AREA 64% AIRPLANES AREA 163
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY
KUALA LUMPUR
AERO CITY AIRPORT LEVEL (+110M)
1590 HA TOTAL AREA 1026 HA AIRPORT AREA 88,2 HA BUILT AREA 7 RUNWAYS 7 PASSENGER TERMINALS 1 CARGO TERMINAL 165
ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE
PRIMARY ROADS SECONDARY ROADS COMMUNITY CENTERS 166
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE
The Aero City is connected to the islands and to Kuala Lumpur by a highway ring.
Aero City can be reached by car or train using the ring road, a 55m wide circular bridge that includes up to 10 traffic lanes and two rail roads. The primary road infrastructure of the city, with roads having 6 lanes in total, follows a grid of 500m. This 21 major avenues are doubled by a secondary road system having 367 streets of 4 to 2 traffic lanes. Large car parks are found on the infrastructure level, beneath the city: 840ha ensure parking space for 280.000 vehicles. This would mean that every resident car can be parked underneath, leaving the
The parking is ensured below the city on the infrastructure level.
streets cleaner and healthier. Visitors’ car parks are found either on the infrastructure level or on the city level.
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PUBLIC TRANSPORT
RAILROAD TRAIN STATION METRO LINES METRO STATION 168
METRO-TRAIN INTERMODAL STATION ROADS WITH PUBLIC TRANSPORT COMMUNITY CENTERS
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Metro-stations are placed within 500m inbetween. Two train stations are situated right underneath the terminals.
Fast trains travel from downtown Kuala Lumpur to Aero City in 12 minutes. Aero City has two train stations for urban use and two train stations for rapid transit to the airport terminals. The city is provided with a 61 station and a 51km-long metro system.
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NEIGHBORHOODS
COMMUNITY CENTERS MUNICIPAL CENTERS 170
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY NEIGHBORHOODS
Neighborhoods have local community centers that enhance the sense of belonging.
According to vocation and uses, Aero City is divided into 12 districts: •
West District – mainly a residential area with hotels and parks
•
Expo One District – comprising an exhibition and conference
center •
Entertainment District – with street retail, malls, clubs and
hotels •
North District – residences and medical-care centers
•
Students District – universities, campuses and R&D centers
•
Industrial District – high-tech industrial parks, manufacturing
and logistics •
Financial District – offices and hotels
•
World Expo District – exhibition and conference center
•
South District – residences
•
Port District – cargo maneuvering facility and warehouses
•
Business District – offices and residences
•
East District – residences and hotels
The city has a system of local and municipal centers. Although the highest urban density is along the ring road, the municipal centers are represented by the Expo One and World Expo districts, where all the city events take place: concerts, festivals and festivities, etc. However, every neighborhood has local community centers placed at an approximately 600m in-between distance. There are 38 local centers equally distributed, which comprise a set of public uses: public squares, parks, playgrounds, gym, restaurants, markets, ground sports, cafeterias, services, bank posts, museums, cultural venues, cinemas, theatres, etc.
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PUBLIC SPACE AND VEGETATION
PUBLIC SPACE AND VEGETATION COMMUNITY CENTERS BUILDINGS AERO CITY ISLAND 172
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY The amount of green public space (43%) proves that Kuala Lumpur
43% of the Aero City is greenery.
Aero City could be one of the greenest and healthiest cities in the world. The 684ha of vegetation would be responsible for a green landscape, a chill temperature, a clean air and a livable habitat for urban wildlife.
URBAN USES Aero City is built around aviation-oriented uses that already thrive
Aero City is build around aviation-oriented uses.
in Kuala Lumpur by attracting global tourists. It is known that Kuala Lumpur is visited for its excellent medical care services, which are much cheaper than in other countries; many tourists from the Southeast Asian region visit Kuala Lumpur for its 80 malls and
It has a strong vocation for research, education, business, events and high-tech industry.
shopping centers; business tourism makes conference centers and hotels industry to flourish; many other tourists come to Kuala Lumpur just for entertainment: sports events, cultural events, golf, clubs, etc. Kuala Lumpur Aero City is determined to use the catalytic effect of the airport and create a city with an innovation profile, with universities, campuses and R&D centers – subsidiaries of renowned foreign educational institutions. International hospitals would address medical tourists. Along the ring road there is a stripe of office buildings and malls, while on the perimeter most of the residential blocks
and hotels are located. Two exposition and conference center would be able to host and attract global events and tourists. In the central area, where the natural lighting is only possible by using a fiber optics system, high-tech industries, logistics and warehouses are placed. They take advantage of the proximity to the airport and represent end-of-the-assembling-line high-tech low-weight products: electronics, jewelries, pharmaceutics, etc. The uses are distributed as following: cargo embarkation area (2,96%), road infrastructure (20%), green public space (43%), conference centers (0,36%), exhibition centers (1,37%), offices (2,48%), services (1,42%), hotels (1,51%), malls and big retail (1,11%) residential (11,77%), Research & Development centers (1%), universities (0,79%), campuses (1,39%), hospitals (1,05%), high-tech industries (4,15%), manufacturing (1,24%), logistics (4.16%). This means a macro-zoning of 35,7% residential area, 22,7% logistics & industry area, 22,4% tertiary area and 19% innovation area. There is a total usable floor space of 400.000sq.m. of malls, 1.600.000sq.m. of offices, 7.310.000sq.m. of living apartments, 940.000sq.m. of hotels, 663.600sq.m. of services and 629.300sq.m. of exhibition space. The quality of the urban environment, the functional diversity, the predominant green, the transit-oriented development, the multicultural landscape, the student-friendly and pro-innovation facilities and the airport-related uses would grant Aero City the title of a global city.
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ZONING
OFFICES HOTELS CONFERENCE CENTER EXPO CENTER UNIVERSITIES 174
R&D CENTERS CAMPUSES HOSPITALS HIGH-TECH INDUSTRY LOGISTICS
RETAIL SERVICES RESIDENTIAL OPEN SPACE
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY MACROZONING
RESIDENTIAL AREA LOGISTICS & INDUSTRY AREA TERTIARY AREA INNOVATION AREA 175
AERO CITY FOR RESIDENTS
The residents of the Aero City enjoy a high-quality of living. 176
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY AERO CITY FOR STUDENTS AND RESEARCHERS
Students play an important role in stepping towards an innovation-based economy. 177
AERO CITY FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS
The high-tech industries are placed in wide green public spaces. 178
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY AERO CITY FOR TRANSIT TOURISTS
If one has to wait 2 hours for the next flight, he can walk around shops, restaurants, parks or exhibitions. 179
AERO CITY FOR BUSINESS TOURISTS
Business people can descend in no time from the airplane into their office . 180
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY AERO CITY FOR SHOPPING TOURISTS
Shopping tourist can enjoy exquisite malls, lively highstreets and pretty corner shops. 181
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY AERO CITY FOR MEDICAL TOURISTS
Medical tourism numbers are rising. Medical-care facilties with parks and hotels offer their international serices. 183
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KUALA LUMPUR
AERO CITY DETAIL
The city provides a wide variety of mixed uses for top living comfort. Aero City offers a living, working and studying environment capable of counteract braindrain. 43% of city’s area is represented by vegetation and public space. Public spaces are arrayed to shape an interesting route, punctured by buildings with public use (libraries, schools, theatres, cinemas, museum, malls, universities, administration, markets, fairs, etc.) Public spaces are important in Malaysian culture, and due to their positioning at a 55m height, under an airport, they are protected by hot weather and heavy rains. The buildings are diverse in shape, footprint and finishing, illustrating the cosmopolitan local culture. Communities have a decisive role and the city is divided in neighborhoods having local community centers, that gather around a park or public plaza cultural, social and comercial uses. Public transport system allows an user to reach a metro, tram or bus station every 3 minutes. All the vehicles can be parked under the city. Aero City wants to be a human-scale city, designed for people and for their needs, so that it can be called home by the nomads of the 21st century. 185
ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE
PRIMARY ROADS SECONDARY ROADS PUBLIC PLAZAS AND PARKS PUBLIC-USE BUILDINGS
The primary road network insures traffic fluence and connects most important objectives. 186
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY PUBLIC TRANSPORT
ROADS WITH PUBLIC TRANSPORT SECONDARY ROADS METRO LINES METRO STATION
Public transport is well distributed. Within a 3-minute walk one can find a bus, a tram or a metro station. 187
ZONING
PUBLIC PLAZAS AND PARKS PUBLIC-USE BUILDINGS RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS MIXED-USE BUILDINGS
Aero City is characterized by mixed use, vitality and heterogeneity. One can never bored. 188
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY PUBLIC SPACE AND VEGETATION
PUBLIC PLAZAS AND PARKS VEGETATION PUBLIC-USE BUILDINGS BUILDINGS ROADS Public-use buildings (malls, markets, libraries, stadium, etc.) are connected by a network of public spaces and parks. 189
LIGHT, ENERGY AND WATER SUPPLY
The airport has 208.32ha of solar panels capable of producing 1.18GW per hour, enough to power the entire Aero City. The rainwater dropping
All spaces are naturally lightened and ventilated.
on the 1026ha roof of tarmac and concrete is collected for city and airport use. This would mean 2600liters/sq.m. yearly and a total of 26,7 billion liters of rainwater annually. Considering the 165 liter per capita a day usage recommended by the World Health Organization, the water collection system would be able to support 442.939 citizens, which means more than double of actual number of inhabitants of Aero City – 195.860 people. The central area of the city, the Industrial District, the Port District, the Expo One District and the World Expo District need a lighting system, because they are placed under large airport facilities; instead of using artificial light, natural sun light can be captured with a technology proposed for New York Lowline Park: a solar collective dish placed on the airport’s tarmac channels the light through a helio-tube and spreads it beneath, into the city, using a dome. The collected sun light enables even the photosynthesis , but doesn’t cause sun-burns. 190
Aero City is energetically self-sufficient.
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY
PHASING The phasing is determined by the airport’s runways and the need to extend traffic capacity. Although the project was conceived with a specific size, one could consider that Aero City is resilient: it can evolve, expanding and diminishing in size, according to necessities.
PHASE 1
The Aero City is a flexible structure. It can increase or decrease in size according to global and local context.
The airport has two runways and three terminals, one of which is for freight. The airport is able to process 400.000 flights/year, 48 mill. passengers/year and 252.000 tons of cargo/year. The economic impact is 13 bill.$. The city has 544ha, but along with the gaps there is a total surface of 634ha. There are 52.000 residents and 80.000 jobs. The main uses are high-tech industry parks, logistics, manufacturing, expo & conference centers, residences and offices. The port has 125ha: a cruise & cargo port and 12 inhabitable pillars having the following uses: high-tech industry, university, residences, retail, offices and universities. PHASE 2 The airport extends with one runway and two more passenger terminals. It can process 600.000 flights/year, 72 mill. passengers/year and 378.000 tons of cargo/year. The economic impact is estimated at 19,5 bill.$. The city has 635ha (778ha in total), 72.000 inhabitants and 120.000 jobs. Conference centers, offices, R&D centers and universities are added. The port enhances its cruise facilities to the detriment of cargo. PHASE 3 The airport reaches four runways, five passenger terminals, one cargo terminals, 800.000 aircraft operations/year, 96 mill. passengers/year, 504.000 tons of cargo/year and 26 bill.$ economic impact. The city extends to 723ha (918ha in total), 78.000 residents and 160.000 jobs. Universities, campuses, international hospitals and R&D centers are built. The port doesn’t suffer other area expansions.
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PHASE 1
PHASE 2
PHASE 3
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY PHASE 4
PHASE 5
PHASE 6
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PHASE 4 The airport has five runways, seven terminals and processes 1mill. aircraft operations/year, 120 mill. passengers/year and 630.000 tons of cargo/year, having a 32,5 bill.$ economic impact. Now, the Aero City airport has already the busiest airport in the world by passenger traffic. The city extends to 909ha (1232ha in total), 131.250 residents and 200.000 jobs. The new urban uses are: universities, expo and conference centers, residences and hotels. The port adds 4 pillars containing offices, hospitals and hotels and extends the cargo port. The ground level totalize a 147ha area. PHASE 5 The airport grows to six runways, 1,2mill. aircraft operations/year, 144mill. passengers/year, 756.000 tons of cargo/year and 39 bill.$ economic impact. The city has 1001ha (1399ha in total), 145.275 residents and 240.000 jobs. Universities, R&D centers, hotels and offices are added. The port level extends with four pillars comprising 19,7 ha of offices, campuses, malls and R&D centers. PHASE 6 The airport reaches the maximum capacity: seven runways accommodating 1,4mill. aircraft operations/ year, 168 mill. passengers/year and 882.000 tons of cargo/year. The economic impact is estimated at 45,5 bill.$. The 1109ha city (1590 in total) can host 195.860 inhabitants and 280.000 jobs, being able to receive all the 247.500 young and talented Malaysian emigrants who declared that would like to return in their country if convenient. The last phase brings more residences, campuses and green areas. The port maintains its area.
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KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY
LIBRARY ELEMENTS
CATALYTIC ELEMENTS
ANCHOR ELEMENT
SUPPORT & INTEGRATION ELEMENTS
The project is built using three types of elements: anchor, catalytic and support & integration elements. This distribution is determined by their role in the urban structure: •
the anchor is that element that performs as a growth engine, as the reason of the entire development: the airport
•
the catalytic elements are attached to the anchor element and benefit from this relationship, developing the socio-economic and cultural life of the city: tertiary activities, innovation, logistics, industry and events
•
the support & integration elements integrate in the powerful urban economic structure the living facilities: residences, campuses
ANCHOR ELEMENT – THE AIRPORT The airport used as an anchor element is the busiest world airport by passenger traffic: Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International, U.S.A. In 2013, it processed 1 mill. aircraft operations, 630.000 tons of freight and 94,4 mill. passengers, but it has a capacity of 120 mill. passengers/year. The airport has six passenger terminals and one cargo terminal and has a 32,5 bill.$ economic impact on metropolitan Atlanta. The airport can be reached using 3 highways and a metro line. There are 208ha of parking space where 70.000 cars can park.
AIRPORT HARTSFIELD jACKSON ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, U.S.A.
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CATALYTIC ELEMENTS Tertiary activities The mall has a footprint of 1,2ha and a total floor area of 3,6ha. It offers 25.200sq.m. of retail space. It addresses the shopping tourists and reinforces Kuala Lumpur as a shopping destination. The hotels have a footprint of 1,3ha and a total floor area of 10,4ha, which means 72.800sq.m. of usable space. They are a stringent feature for the glomads of the 21st century. The international hospital has a footprint of 3,77ha and a total floor area of 15ha, offering 105.000sq.m. of usable floor space. It’s targeted towards medical tourists who come to Kuala Lumpur either because medical services are too expensive in their country or because they require special medical treatment uncovered by their insurance policies. The services totalize 1,2 ha on the ground and 6ha as total floor area, providing 42.000sq.m. of usable floor space. They border streets in the Industrial District and grant a tertiary character to a predominantly industrial zone. The office buildings element comprises 2,33ha of offices, a total floor area of 18,64ha and a usable space of 130.000sq.m. This is where the global businesses are placing their headquarters.
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International hospital
Shopping mall
Offices
Hotels
Services
Offices
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY
Innovation The R&D center has 3,3ha, 10ha of total floor space and 70.000sq.m. of usable space. Here stands the goal of Malaysia to become an innovation-oriented economy and to leave behind its status as a production economy. The University has a 2,25ha footprint, 9ha of total floor space and 63.000sq.m. of usable space. To become a knowledge-based economy and a talent hub, Kuala Lumpur develops its universities and invests in education. The high-tech industrial park is where the innovation must be proven through practical applications. The high-tech industrial park has a built surface of 6,5ha spread over a surface of 18,7ha.
Research & development center
University
High-tech industry park
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Logistics and industry The warehouses have storage capacities varying from 4250sq.m. to 48.000sq.m. Here is where the products are waiting to be delivered by air all over the world. They serve as depots for e-commerce and industries or are part of the cold-chain (trade of easily-perishable products: flower, fish, fruits, etc.) The industries cover a wide range of high-tech domains: electronics, pharmaceutics, biotechnology, computer science, information technology, nanotechnology, telecommunications, robotics, artificial intelligence, photonics, semiconductors, aerospace and automotive. The port will have the capacity to move all the incoming and outcoming cargo from the air or from the sea. To be able to maneuver 0,9 mill. tons of cargo per year, 12 rail tracks surround the cranes and the loading bays.
Logistics
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Industry
port- logistics
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY Events The exhibition site is part of the Hanover World Expo site from 2000, when 18 mill. visitors attended the event. The expo site has 29,6ha and provides up to 160.000sq.m. of interior exhibition floor space. The conference centers vary from 0,5 to 1,2ha footprints and from 12.000sq.m. to 30.000sq.m. total floor area. They offer halls for business conferences and cultural events.
Exhibition center
Conference center
Conference center
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SUPPORT&INTEGRATION ELEMENTS Residential The residential areas include housing and students’ campuses. The residences offer high quality living conditions and are cropped from downtown areas of Sidney, New York or Barcelona. The campuses are from Amsterdam, the European capital of students.
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Mixed-use-residential unit
Mixed-use-residential unit
Campus
Campus
Mixed-use-residential unit
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY
AERO CITY IMPACT
Greater Kuala Lumpur would fully benefit economically, environmentally and socially.
Economically, the airport would generate 45,5 billion dollars in direct business revenues. 80.000 people would be directly employed by the airport, but a total of 280.000 jobs will be created in the Aero City due to aviation-related businesses. Counting direct, indirect, and induced impacts, Aero City airport generates more than 607.000 jobs for metropolitan Kuala Lumpur, which could cover 60% of the total
The Aero City would help Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur fulfill its vision.
number of Malaysian emigrants. The 20,6 billion dollars revenue impact to the airlines and service companies is distributed as follows: 88% passenger services and airport administration, 7% freight transportation services, 3%
passenger ground transportation services, 2% contract construction and consulting. 315.470 jobs would be directly generated by air visitors and distributed through tourism-related economic sectors: 102.670 jobs in eating and drinking sector, 84.000 jobs in hotels, 50.400 jobs in transportation, 46.670 jobs in entertainment industry and 31.730 jobs in retail sector. Visitors arriving through Aero City Airport should spend annually 25,76 billion dollars in metropolitan Kuala Lumpur: 8,77 bill. $ on hotels, 5,97 bill. $ on eating and drinking, 5,23 bill. $ on retail, 3,17 bill. $ on transportation and 2,61 bill. $ on entertainment. Socially, the airport and the attracted aviation-oriented businesses allow Malaysians to enhance their living and working conditions and to aspire to become a high-income nation. Also, the global and local connectivity and the development’s profile create an emigration-friendly environment capable of alluring the 247.500 highly-qualified young Malaysians who left the country and are willing to return. Residents of the entire Greater Kuala Lumpur can find here a better living environment and jobs for all levels of training. The cultural life of Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur can attract international attention, as the cosmopolitan character and local specificity is a stone key in developing Aero City. Not only the events, concerts and conferences should make Aero City a preferable destination, but also its local food markets, localcontemporary architecture, variety display and mixed-Asian cultures that cohabit and create the uniqueness of this place. Environmentally, Kuala Lumpur Aero City should foster international public awareness through its innovative character and protective attitude towards nature: the mangrove forest stays untouched (moreover, 683,7 ha of vegetation are added) and the city is out of danger in what concerns oceans level rise; Aero City is self-sustainable and can fulfill its water and energy needs. Kuala Lumpur Aero City would help Malaysia fulfill its vision - a high-income nation with a knowledge based economy by 2020, accomplished by reinforcing Kuala Lumpur and transforming it into a global hub of transport, business, talent and innovation. 201
EPILOGUE
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY – A SUSTAINABLE MODEL FOR AIRPORT DRIVEN URBAN DEVELOPMENTS The Aero City is glimpse to the future, to the urbanity of the 21st century.
Kuala Lumpur Aero City can stand as a distinct concept of airport-driven urban development. AERO CITY IS A SELF-SUSTAINABLE PASSIVE-ENERGY ENVIRONMENTAL-AWARE URBAN STRUCTURE WHICH PERFORMS AS A GLOBAL HUB OF TALENT, BUSINESS, TOURISM, TRANSPORT AND OPPORTUNITIES, BUILT AROUND A STRONG LOCAL IDENTITY AND CULTURE, IN THE PURSUIT OF CONNECTING GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES WITH LOCAL ENDEAVORS. Unlike other spatial models of airport-driven urban development, Aero City focuses on self-sufficiency, environmental awareness and local identity. Aero City shape is inspired from Malaysian traditional architecture, which is the sustainable form of building in hot and humid local climate. While the other spatial models propose a repetition of a monotonous airport-uses landscape that replicate themselves in the same manner all over the world, with warehouses, highways, offices and headquarters, Aero City has a more holistic understanding. The business-oriented approach characteristic to other concepts is doubled by the care towards a sensitive urban landscape with local architecture, reinterpreted in a contemporary manner. Aero City is able to self-provide water and energy and it is not invasive in its relationship with the environment. One can regard the Aero City spatial model as a way to build an airport, a city and a port near the ocean, in flood-menaced areas, or as a way to develop environmentally-friendly in a green natural area, without disforesting. Moreover, Aero City creates a 684ha of parks and green spaces. While all the other concept consider themselves as hubs of business and transport, they care little about their inhabitants and mostly address to firms and companies. Aero City invests in people and creates a healthy living environment, providing parks and vegetation in an astonishing percentage of 44% of the urbanized area. All the urban infrastructure is brought down under the city, along with the car parks and other utilities, creating a city for people, not only by offering walkable neighborhoods, but also by maintaining the buildings to a human scale. Aero City is a fly-in city and unlike decoplex, one leaves the plane on the roof, not in the garage. Perhaps one of the most thrilling experience that Aero City can offer is to give the air travelers stuck between flights the chance of walking around a city that is accessible within 5 minutes from the terminal. Long waiting hours can be exchanged by a stroll on a suspended boulevard which exhibits a unique view to a forested island situated right beneath the city. Aero City is a cocktail mixing what is best in the other airport driven development spatial models: the proximity to the runways of the Airfront, the quick 202
KUALA LUMPUR AERO CITY accessibility of flying-in communities of the Decoplex, the density of development from the Airport City, the social-intregration of the Airport Corridor, the urban uses and the relationship between themselves and the airport and the beautifying of the airport as gate to the city specified by the Aerotropolis and the time sensitive spatial layout and the flexibility suggested by the Airea. In the end, Aero City adds one thing that all the other concepts have missed: local context, spatial, social and cultural. Aero City is inspired by local architecture and is built in a specific Malaysian style, reinterpreted in a contemporary way. It is adapted to climate, natural surroundings, local economy, multicultural society and cosmopolitan Malaysian culture. The high quality of living is a must-be in order to make Aero City a promoter of sustainability and innovation. However, nothing can insure a more sustainable future than investing in education: Aero City has an entire district designed for students, with top universities, campuses, R&D centers, sports facilities, etc. Many of the global tourists can find in Aero City more attractive hotspots than in Kuala Lumpur, as the urban uses address specifically to global visitors preferences: shopping, medical care, events, conferences, education, etc. Also, Aero City implements urban uses according to local and global needs, and for the case of Malaysia, it stands as the arch-stone to the country’s transformation into a knowledge-based economy, to stopping braindrain, to ensuring sustainable urban growth and to helping Kuala Lumpur become a global hub. What makes Aero City sustainable? It doesn’t harm the environment, it blends within it. It doesn’t consume energy, but it produces. It is lively, because it shelters economic and cultural life. It addresses local needs and comes as a solution to specific problems: it is the city that Malaysian emigrants want to return to and to live in, the city that can help Malaysia become a high-income nation, the city specifically created to innovate – bringing a nation a step closer to an innovation-based economy. Aero City is the city that displays a new model of development – a sustainable urban growth of Greater Kuala Lumpur. But in the end, what represents Aero City? It is glimpse to the future, to the urbanity of the 21st century. In the mental geography of the future, distance will no longer exist: airports will move to cities and cities will move to airports, creating an arch competition at a global scale. Uncompetitive cities will lose their connection and fade out on the world map, and along with airline companies, people, jobs and economic power shall leave the cities for more attractive locations, some of them found at the opposite part of the globe.
The new nomads of the 21st century, who travel the globe searching for better places for living, working and studying, will call Aero City their home.
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REFERENCES WEB http://bigthink.com http://en.unesco.org http://www.iata.org/pressroom/facts_figures http://people.hofstra.edu http://www.iata.org http://www.icao.int http://www.skygod.com http://www.worldwatch.org http://aviationbenefits.org http://www.airbus.com http://www.nasa.gov http://www.moh.gov.my/english.php - Ministry of Health Malaysia http://www.treasury.gov.my/index.php?lang=en – Ministry of Finance Malaysia www.talentcorp.com.my http://app.kwpkb.gov.my/greaterklkv http://www.atrsworld.org http://geology.com/sea-level-rise STUDIES, REPORTS AND STATISTICS Economist Intelligence Unit, Hot spots. Benchmarking global city competitiveness 2012 Ernst & Young, KL Calling – The Rise of Kuala Lumpur as an Investment Destination Ernst & Young. 2014. Take 5 - Malaysia’s 2014 Budget Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025, 2012 MasterCard – Global Destination Cities Index 2013 Principal Statistics of Labour Force, Malaysia, January 2014 World Bank – Malaysia Economic Monitor- Brain Drain 2011 World Bank. 2007. Malaysia and the Knowledge Economy: Building a World-Class Higher Education System
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BOOKS AND ARTICLES Barrett P. 1987. Cities and their Airports: Policy Formation, 1926-1952. Journal of Urban History, 14, 112-137 Blanton W. 2004. On the Airfront. Planning, 70, 34-36 Burghouwt G. 2007. Airline Network Development in Europe and its Implications for Airport Planning. U.K., Ashgate Castells M. 1996. The Rise of the Network Society, the Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Vol. I. U.K., Blackwell Caves R. E. 1997. European Airline Networks and their Implications for Airport Planning. Transport Reviews, 17, 121-144 Chee S.T. 1982. Rural and Urban as Categories in Malay Life: An Interpretation. Archipel, 24, 189-203 Conway M. 1980. The Airport City: Development Concepts for the 21st Century. U.S.A., Conway Data Inc Conway M. 1993. Airport Cities 21: The New Global Transport Centers of the 21st Century. U.S.A., Conway Data Inc Curtis C., Renne J.L. and Bertolini L. 2009. Transit Oriented Development: Making it Happen. U.K., Ashgate Bednarek D. 2000. City Planning and Municipal Airports, 1927-1940. Planning Perspectives, 15:349-375 Evers H.D. 2007. The End of Urban Involution and the Cultural Construction of Urbanism in Indonesia. Internationales Asienforum, 1-2, 51-65 Firzal Y. 2011. Malay House, an Uniqueness of Architectural Design Form. Local Wisdom, 1, 19-24 Freestone, R. & Baker D. 2011. Spatial Planning Models of Airport-Driven Urban Development. Journal of Planning Literature, 26, 263-279 Fuller G., Ross H. 2004. Aviopolis – A Book About Airports, USA, Farrar, Straus and Giroux Goh R.B.H. & Yeoh B.S.A. 2003. Urbanism and Post-Colonial Nationalities: Theorizing the Southeast Asian City. Singapore. World Scientific Publishing Gordon A. 2004. Naked Airport – A Cultural History of the World’s Most Revolutionary Structure, USA, University of Chicago Press Gottdiener M. 2001. Life in the Air: Surviving the New Culture of Air Travel. U.S.A., MD: Rowman and Littlefield Graham B. 2003. Air Transport Policy: Reconciling Growth and Sustainability?. A New Deal for Transport? The UK’s Struggle with the Sustainable Transport Agenda, 198-225. U.K., Blackwell Guller M. & Guller M. 2003. From Airport to Airport City, Spain, Gustavo Gill Hack G. 2000. Infrastructure and Regional Form. Global City Regions: Their Emerging Forms, 183-192 Haruna N. Z. & Zaid I. The changing roles of public spaces in Malaysia. National Landscape Seminar Hubbard H.V., McLintock M. and Williams F.B. 1930. Airports: Their Location, Administration and Legal Basis. U.K., Harvard University Press Karsner D.1997. Aviation and Airports: The Impact on the Economic and Geographic Structure of American Cities, 1940s- 1980s. Journal of Urban History, 23, 406-436 Kasarda J.D., Lindsay G. 2011. Aerotropolis – The Way We’ll Live Next, USA, Farrar, Straus and Giroux Knippenberger U. 2010. Conference report from airport city to airport region? The 1st International Colloquium on Airports and Spatial Development, Karlsruhe, 2009. Town Planning Review, 81, 209-216 Le Corbusier. 1987. The City of Tomorrow and its Planning. U.S.A. Dover Publications 205
Ling O. H. L., Ting K. H., Shaharuddin A., Kadaruddin A. and Yaakob M. J. 2010. Urban Growth and Air Quality in Kuala Lumpur City, Malaysia. EnvironmentAsia, 2, 123-128 Mastny L. 2001. Traveling Light - New Paths for International Tourism. USA, Worldwatch Institute Press Meier R.L. 1974. Planning for an Urban World. U.K., MIT Press Ngah I., Preston D., Asman N. 2010. Current Planning Priorities in Rural Villages in Malaysia - Learning From the New Malaysian Village Action Plans. ISDA, June 28-30 Nolen J. 1928. Airports and airways as a part of city and regional planning. Paper to the 20th National Conference on City Planning, Dallas, May. Peneda M.J.A. 2010. Critical Factors for the Development of Airport Cities. MSc thesis, Instituto Superior Te´cnico, Universidade Technica de Lisboa Robertson R. 1995. Glocalisation: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogeneity. Global Modernities, 25-44. U.K., Sage Schaafsma M. 2008. Accessing Global City Regions: The Airport as a City. The Image and the Region: Making Mega-City Regions Visible!, edited by Alain Thierstein and Agnes Forster, 69-79. Germany, Lars Muller Schaafsma M. 2010. From Airport City to Airport Corridor: Airport and City, Sustainability and Economy. Airports in Cities and Regions: Research and Practice, edited by Ute Knippenberger and Alex Wall, 173-9. Germany, KIT Scientific Publishing Schaafsma M., Amkreutz J. and Guller M. 2008. Airport and City. Airport Corridors: Drivers of Economic Development. Netherlands, Schiphol Real Estate Schlaack J. 2010. Defining the Airea: Evaluating Urban Output and Forms of Interaction Between Airport and Region. Airports in Cities and Regions: Research and Practice, edited by Ute Knippenberger and Alex Wall, 113-26. Germany: KIT Scientific Publishing. Short J.R. 2004. Global Metropolitan: Globalizing Cities in a Capitalist World. U.K., Routledge. Short J.R., and Kim Y.H. 1999. Globalization and the City. U.S.A., Longman. Shafii H. & Musa S.M.S. 2010. Urban Transportation: Issue and Solution, Journal of Techno-Social, 2, 31-46 Sharif1 K.I.M., Udin Z.M., Ibrahim J.A., Omar M., Vonne T.Y. 2012. An Investigation on Effective Practices of Green Management Implementation in University Utara Malaysia. International Conference on Technology and Operations Management “Sustaining Competitiveness through Green Technology Management”, Bandung – Indonesia, July 4-6, 2012 Sudjic D. 1999. Identity in the City. The third megacities lecture Tang H.N. & Tareef H.K. 2012. Revisiting Strategies to enhance Social Interaction in Urban Public Spaces in the context of Malaysia. British Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 2, 198-212 Teriman S., Yigitcanlar T. and Mayere S. 2008. Promoting Sustainable Urban Development in Fast Growing City Regions: Practices from Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. Subtropical Cities Conference, 3-6 September, Brisbane, Australia Timbrell G., Foth M. and Hearn G. 2006. Towards Knowledge Management for Explorers: The Case of the Brisbane Airport Corporation. International Journal of Knowledge,Culture and Change Management, 6, 97104 Thompson E.C. 2007. Unsettling Absences: Urbanism in Rural Malaysia. Singapore, Singapore Press 206
Twomey J. and Tomkins J. 1995. Development Effects at Airports: A Case Study of Manchester Airport. Transport and urban development, edited by David Banister, 187-211. London: E and FN Spon Urry J. 2007. Mobilities. U.K., Polit Van den Berg L., H. A. Van Klink, and P. M. J. Pol. 1996. Airports as Centres of Economic Growth. Transport Reviews, 16, 55-65 Van Wijk M. 2007. Airports as Cityports in the City-Region: Spatial-Economic and Institutional Positions and Institutional Learning, Randstad-Schiphol, Netherlands Geographical Studies, 353 Vowles T.M. 2006. Geographic Perspectives of Air Transportation. Professional Geographer, 58, 12-19 Wiryomartono B. 2012. Historical Notes, Concepts, and Evolution of Urbanism in the Malay World. Jati, 17, 115-131 Zeufack G.A., Yoong L.K. and Nadaraja D. 2011. Knowledge, Innovation and Long-Run Growth, Khazanah Research and Investment Strategy Macro Modeling Project
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American sociologist Amos Hawley noted that people tend to live within sixty-minute radius from home, which now means an air commute between Barcelona and London. Living patterns change, being defined less by the horizon of geographical knowledge and more by the limits imposed by the means of transport and communications. The Instant Age means the economy of speed and the survival of the fastest. Thus, “time itself becomes a valuable product” (Kasarda and Lindsay 2011). AERO
CITY
IS
A
SELF-SUSTAINABLE
PASSIVE-ENERGY
ENVIRONMENTAL-AWARE URBAN STRUCTURE WHICH PERFORMS AS A GLOBAL HUB OF TALENT, BUSINESS, TOURISM, TRANSPORT AND OPPORTUNITIES, BUILT AROUND A STRONG LOCAL IDENTITY AND CULTURE, IN THE PURSUIT OF CONNECTING GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES WITH LOCAL ENDEAVORS.
Aero City is glimpse to the future, to the urbanity of the 21st century. In the mental geography of the future, distance will no longer exist: airports will move to cities and cities will move to airports, creating an arch competition at a global scale. Uncompetitive cities will lose their connection and fade out on the world map, and along with airline companies, people, jobs and economic power shall leave the cities for more attractive locations, some of them found at the opposite part of the globe. THE NEW NOMADS OF THE 21ST CENTURY, WHO TRAVEL THE GLOBE SEARCHING FOR BETTER PLACES FOR LIVING, WORKING AND STUDYING, WILL CALL AERO CITY THEIR HOME.
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