Abstract
This chapter examines the development of the King Shaka International Airport (KSIA), Africa’s first purpose-built aerotropolis in the global South city of Durban. Air travel has become the fastest-growing means of transportation and also one of the primary contributors to the globalisation of cities. This is particularly so in a neoliberal era with an emphasis on economic efficiencies and profit maximisation in urban development. John Kasarda introduced the concept of the aerotropolis (the airport-centred city), viewed as a magnet for urban and regional development. A key contention of the aerotropolis argument is that airport expansion promotes the development of surrounding regions and can serve as catalysts for economic growth. At KSIA, there were challenges relating to continued relegation to spoke status, freight and cargo logistics, and airport taxes and tariffs. This study suggests that airport-centred development is elitist, especially in developing countries, like South Africa, with high levels of inequality. The KSIA aerotropolis is a neoliberal project serving to benefit a select minority, and the huge investment of public funds into this project may not be justifiable.
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[A version of this paper, “Efficiency at Any Cost? A Critique of Aerotropolis Development for King Shaka International Airport” was presented at the IGU Urban Commission Annual Meeting 2015—Urban challenges in a complex world—Resilience, governance and changing urban systems, 9—16 August 2015, at University College Dublin (Cosby and Maharaj 2016).]
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Crosby, M., Maharaj, B. (2021). Aerotropolis and Urban and Regional Impacts: The Case of the King Shaka International Airport in Durban, South Africa. In: Singh, R.B., Chatterjee, S., Mishra, M., de Lucena, A.J. (eds) Practices in Regional Science and Sustainable Regional Development. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2221-2_10
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