An investigation into the application of the Aerotropolis strategy to the Cape Town International Airport from a Global South Urban Planning perspective

The Aerotropolis is one of many airport led urban development concepts that challenge the way city's have traditionally been planned and managed. In the developed world, airports have evolved from military bases to decentralised and privatised Airport Cities and regionally linked Aerotropoli. On the other hand, although Africa has 12% of the global population and represents 1% of global airfreight and passenger volumes, these figures are expected to increase over time. As South Africa is considered the gateway into Africa, the national led Oliver Reginald Tambo International Airport in Gauteng and the King Shaka International Airport in Ethekweni Durban have recently pursued regional airport approaches. There is substantial scope to apply airport-urban theories to the Cape Town International Airport, which is situated 20km from a sea port, sees the second highest passenger count in South Africa and is set for 11.5 billion Rand in upgrades in the next 5 years. However, the decision to pursue a regional airport approach for the CTIA must be orientated towards the South African context of post-apartheid restructuring and social transformation. This is because the question simultaneously raised is how to stimulate development in the historically segregated South East Metro, with the economic potential of the decentralised and adjacently located CTIA being largely overlooked. The dissertation provides a twenty (20) year regional Spatial Development Framework for the CTIA. Interviews are held with 10 key actors in fields related to airport, urban and business related planning. The literature and findings of the dissertation reveal that firstly, the AeroScape and Airea are more appropriate for conceptualising the retrofitting of an existing airport while the Aerotropolis is best suited as a business model and not a physical form. Secondly, the aviation linked sectors in Cape Town are connected to the City’s unexploited comparative advantages in labour absorptive industries such as agri-processing, manufacturing and textiles which can be brought to the doorstep of the CTIA and South East Metro. Lastly, the functionality of these industries provides further opportunity to develop a sustainable closed loop metabolism between the CTIA, Phillipi East Industrial Node and Philippi Horticultural Area.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Hanly, David

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Odendaal, Nancy

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/17423

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/17423