Contested Airport Land
Social-Spatial Transformation and Environmental Injustice in Asia and Africa
Contributor(s)
Sharma, Sneha (editor)
Language
EnglishAbstract
Contested Airport Land draws attention to the accelerating airport development in the Global South. Empirical studies provide nuanced analysis of socioeconomic, administrative, and political dynamics on the land beyond the airport grounds, such as the project area of greenfield development, the airport city, or land resources reserved for future airport expansion.
The authors in this book emphasise why airport construction is a politically sensitive issue in low-income and low-middle-income countries, which serve as the last development frontier of the aviation sector. They argue that observed airport development was rather motivated by the perception of airports as engines for national economic growth, while improving air mobility of national populations was not the main driver. Under dominant national development visions, airport-induced dynamics threatened local livelihoods by triggering economies of anticipation, the reconfiguration of land markets, rapid land use changes, a transition from rural to urban livelihoods, the displacement of communities, the perpetuation of human–wildlife conflicts, or inter-ethnic violence. The authors also highlight colonial path dependencies; legal pluralism in land tenure; the hegemonic relations between builders, investors, and the affected residents; as well as strategies of local protest movements.
This book is recommended for readers interested in infrastructure-induced conflicts and environmental injustice.
Keywords
aviation sector,development,multi-level governance,airport-induced injustice,land conflict,protest movement,Global SouthDOI
10.4324/9781003494966ISBN
9781003494966, 9781032800035, 9781032800042Publisher
Taylor & FrancisPublisher website
https://taylorandfrancis.com/Publication date and place
2025Imprint
RoutledgeSeries
Routledge Research in Planning and Urban Design,Classification
City and town planning: architectural aspects