Die Beziehungen zwischen Flughafen und den sie umgebenden Stadtregionen haben sich in den letzten beiden Jahrzehnten verandert. Flughafen sind heute ein wichtiges Element der Verkehrsinfrastruktur moderner Metropolen und beeinfl ussen damit masgeblich die Stadtentwicklung. Die Zunahme des Flugverkehrs, die Herausbildung von grosen Drehkreuz-Flughafen sowie eine zunehmende Privatisierung und Kommerzialisierung haben dazu gefuhrt, dass Flughafen heute mehr sind als reine Start- und Landeplatze. Today, airports not only act as catalysts for economic growth, employment and property development, but also tend to evolve into multifunctional activity centres in their own right. Several planning-oriented models exist, including Kasarda's well-known Aerotropolis model, to describe these developments and the corresponding land-use changes around airports. However, these models are mostly based on anecdotal evidence and limited empirical data. Our study systematically compares the land-use patterns around 75 major Asian, European and North American airports and their changes between 2004 and 2014. The results clearly indicate that techno-centric models such as Aerotropolis are far too optimistic when they predict that the city of the future will evolve around the airport. They tend to overlook regional, national or individual variations in planning systems and settlement patterns which are still important when trying to explain and predict changing land uses in the airport vicinity.
The outbreak of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) has caused much concern globally, not least because of its effects on the economy Although every pandemic is unique, there is evidence that socio-economically disadvantaged population groups are suffering disproportionately high infection and mortality rates and negative economic impacts This is also evident in New York City, where African Americans and Hispanics account for a high proportion of those who become infected and die The article outlines the spread of Covid-19 and discusses the vulnerability of its inhabitants using the example of the so-called frontline workers © 2020 Westermann Schulbuchverlag GmbH All rights reserved
