The Dark Side of Aeromobilities: Unplanned Airport Planning in Mexico City

Abstract

Land-use conflicts, noise and health problems, local air pollution, decreased urban quality and affected liveability are considered amongst the core impacts and consequences associated with global airports, all of which have largely been individually documented. Through a case study of Mexico City International Airport (MCIA), this article argues that a more integrated focus that brings such various issues and perspectives together is needed in order to widen the understanding of the existing relationship between socio-spatial and environmental effects, increased aeromobility, airport siting conflicts, airport urban surroundings and globalization. The present study of MCIA suggests that local players and airports are not just passively influenced by processes of globalization and aeromobilities, but also that such processes disentangle a wide array of socio-spatial and environmental consequences that depend on ad hoc local contexts. Hence, the article follows the argument that a much stronger focus on the planning process of airports is needed at local and regional scales, while a larger debate regarding the regulation of increased global aviation ought to be raised in national and international contexts.

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this article was presented at the Conference ‘Mobilities in Motion: New Approaches to Emergent and Future Mobilities’, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA, March 2011 (Galland and Lassen 2011). We thank Ole B. Jensen, Erik Jensen and Oscar Figueroa (IEUT, Catholic University of Chile) for valuable comments on a previous version of this article. We also thank Dave Galland for his kind support during the fieldtrips that were undertaken as part of this study.

Notes

1. In this article, we regard the population of Greater Mexico City as the total amount of inhabitants that live within the political-administrative boundaries of the Metropolitan Zone of the Valley of Mexico (Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México).

2. Data regarding both passenger traffic and aircraft operations in MCIA were obtained from different official sources: (a) the General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics annual reports entitled La Aviación Mexicana en Cifras (Mexican Aviation Numbers), (b) the National Institute of Statistic and Geography (INEGI) ‘Anuario Estadístico del Distrito Federal’ (Statistical Yearbook of the Federal District) and (c) MCIA annual statistics. Some minor discrepancies exist with regard to retrieved data.

3. It has not been possible to access any recent official evidence regarding noise emissions in nearby districts. As the topic of the airport is generally a contentious issue in Mexico, we believe that authorities handle data with extreme caution by virtue of potential conflicting interests.