But Who's the Mayor of Airport City?

NASA's Earth Observatory "Similar in shape to the traditional metropolis made up of a central city core and its commuter-linked suburbs, the Aerotropolis consists of an airport city core and outlying corridors and clusters of aviation-linked businesses." That's University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor John D. Kasarda writing...

By Robert Wilonsky

August 20, 2007

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NASA's Earth Observatory

"Similar in shape to the traditional metropolis made up of a central city core and its commuter-linked suburbs, the Aerotropolis consists of an airport city core and outlying corridors and clusters of aviation-linked businesses." That's University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor John D. Kasarda writing about "the airport city," and if that sounds a little, ya know, close to home, Business Week agrees with this story about how Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is indeed becoming the city center of the future.

Larger than the island of Manhattan, with 60 million passengers per year, DFW is one of the busiest airports in the world. But of its $619 million in annual revenue, the majority, 65%, comes from sources other than airlines. Land leases, commercial development, two upscale hotels, natural gas rigs, and even a pair of 18-hole golf courses are among the ways DFW earns money from its 18,000 acres.

Unfair Park's currently looking for an apartment in airport city -- preferably something between Gates 11 and 18 in Terminal A, which, we hear, is a safe neighborhood with good schools. --Robert Wilonsky

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