I just now caught up with this NYT review of UNC economics professor John Kasarda’s (along with Greg Lindsey) “Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next.” Kasarda is a frequent source in N&R articles about economic development surrounding Piedmont Triad International Airport as the powers that be here in the Triad continue to push the concept of the “aerotropolis” even as development around PTI continues to lag.
The reviewer concludes the “authors of ‘Aerotropolis’ are perhaps to be congratulated for their bluntness and their provocations. But I could not shake the sense that something had gone missing from their vision of our future — something like a soul.”
Ouch. And the cities that will support successful aerotropolises (correct plural?) will be so-called build-out cities, meaning they will have significant suburban development, which runs counter to the high-density urban development many cities are pushing these days.
