Review of Aerotropolis

Subtitled “The way we’ll live next”, this book by John Kasarda and Greg Lindsay looks at the possible airport city of the future. At the moment, airports are usually located outside the main part of the city. Yet, given the fact that we still need actual physical goods to be delivered, some might argue that it makes sense for cities to be built around airports. The airport is what makes delivery of smart phones (in a timely manner) possible. In an era of growing – and instant – connectedness, we need to pay attention to the logic of what the authors refer to as the “physical internet”.

The city of the future, or an urban nightmare?I haven’t finished reading the book yet, but from what I’ve read it’s well-written and thought-provoking. I have to say I have my reservations about the authors’ standpoint, but I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve finished reading the book!

The book positions itself as a kind of physical world equivalent to Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat. It would make for an interesting starting point for discussion with students.

The book is published on 1st March 2011, and you can purchase it by clicking on the link on the Amazon Books page of the ICT in Education website.

A slightly different version of this article first appeared in Computers in Classrooms, the free e-newsletter for people with an interest in educational ICT.