In the Public Interest

In today's economic and political climate, there is a growing trend toward less governmental intervention in the economy and more reliance on the private sector for the delivery of a variety of services. Deficit politics, airline deregulation, and the prospect of a windfall of cash has prompted many local units of government that own and operate airports to consider selling or leasing these facilities to private investors. Airport privatization has emerged as a contentious issue, with weighty arguments on both sides of the debate. This article examines these arguments and presents several models of airport privatization. The authors suggest that the most aggressive form of privatization–full divestiture–is unlikely to produce the benefits advertised by its proponents. However, less radical forms of privatization serve as useful models for future airport ownership and operation. The authors conclude that, given the great variation in the types of airports in the United States system, no single model is sufficient.     

中国民用机场竞争优势的空间分布特征

经过近20年的高速发展,我国民用机场业的整体竞争实力得以提高,但伴随繁荣发展的却是机场竞争优势的区域空间分布非均衡性矛盾的突出。无论是机场数量、机场等级、机场业务量、机场业务结构,还是机场的产权结构、经营模式和经营业绩,东部都占有绝对优势。基于机场竞争优势的空间非均衡性,也形成了非均衡发展的航空运输网络,这在一定程度上加剧了区域经济发展的非均衡性。因此,为了缩小地区机场竞争实力差距,提高中西部地区机场的竞争优势,各级政府应制定相关政策,加快中西部机场发展。增建中西部新机场,提高大中型机场等级,制定相应政策,加快中西部机场产权和经营模式改革,拓宽机场的融资渠道,开拓货邮市场,吸引和引导民营资本和外国资本注入中西部机场,为中西部机场提供高效运营、不断提高竞争实力的平台。     

旅游机场吞吐量影响因素初探

近年来,在旅游者航空需求推动下,旅游热点地区兴建旅游机场已成为一大趋势。本文对旅游机场的概念、特点进行了归纳,认为旅游机场至少可以根据其对旅游客流的依赖程度区分为旅游景区机场和旅游城市机场。对机场吞吐量统计数据的分析发现,宏观地理区位是导致游客选择航空旅行方式比重存在差异的主要原因。对黄山和九寨沟等多个旅游机场的案例分析发现,具体的旅游线路组织方式、地面交通方式和其他机场的分流作用是导致旅游机场吞吐量悬殊的深层原因。在此基础上提出了旅游机场吞吐量影响因素的概念模型并将之用于喀纳斯机场和宜昌机场的分析。     

空港经济产业布局模式及规划引导研究——以广州白云国际机场为例

从产业布局的角度探讨了国内近年比较热门的空港经济现象。首先从与机场最直接相关的人、物、资金和信息四大要素入手,剖析了空港经济主要产业类型及其特征,并分析了空港经济总体区位及其演变过程。在此基础上总结分析空港经济产业具有与发展阶段相吻合的增长极、点轴和网络三种布局模式,指出国内备受推崇的圈层布局是发展阶段不明确的理想模式,并尝试采用地理信息系统空间分析方法对产业布局的区位进行叠加分析。最后以广州新白云机场为例,探讨了周围花都区和白云区空港经济产业布局规划方案和措施。     

ARCHITECTURAL GEOGRAPHIES OF THE AIRPORT BALCONY: MOBILITY, SENSATION AND THE THEATRE OF FLIGHT

Contemporary studies within the apparent ‘mobility turn’ focus upon airports as sites indicative of our mobile world, yet they tend to forgo investigations of the contextual architectural geographies that shape and inflect these mobilities. This paper examines the relationship between the architecture of the airport balcony and practices of seeing. While recent scholarship has taken airports to be incredible symbolizers of power and places of heightened visual scrutiny, the paper explores how through the architectural mediation of seeing, early airports were designed to instil specific inspirations, beliefs and messages within the airport user – constructing a new and modern experience. Far from a blank space evacuated of social presence and meaning, the paper investigates how airport design interacts with and shapes social experience. By examining the mobile practices and experiences of inhabiting the airport balcony, the paper advances conceptualizations of moving and seeing by complicating their practice as ‘collective individuations’ of social, architectural and sensual engagements, registers, and percepts.     

Getting the China Story Right: Insights from National Economic Censuses

Two Hong Kong-based geographers critically interrogate competing interpretations of the nature and dynamics of China's ongoing economic transformation. Based on the data gathered from China's first and second national economic censuses, they examine the pattern and process of ownership transformation in the Chinese economy, focusing on employment, capital assets, and output as well as productivity and industrial innovation. Emphasis is placed on the following critical issues: (1) after three decades of opening, China's national economy continues to be dominated by domestic enterprises (with foreign and overseas Chinese-invested enterprises limited to only a few industrial sectors and highly specific locales); (2) the bulk of capital assets and key large-scale industrial sectors remain in state ownership; and (3) spontaneous, bottom-up privatization of the labor market has occurred without a corresponding privatization of the capital market. In examining these and other issues, the authors argue that the evolving, complex "China story" can be better understood only after abandoning reliance on preconceived theoretical models derived primarily from Western experience. They support their case by first challenging the conventional neoliberal view of privatization as an independent force or predetermined condition, arguing instead that it is conditioned by prevailing social and political influences. Likewise, they posit that rapid expansion of private and individual businesses at the grassroots level has owed more to relaxed state control than to active state involvement envisioned by the thesis of state corporatism. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: E22, E23, E24, O11, P20. 8 figures, 6 tables, 87 references.     

The Making of an Australian ‘Airport City’

Globally, the changing nature of airports, and particularly the juxtaposition of general commercial land uses alongside aviation functions, is captured in the concept of the ‘airport city’. In Australia, commercialisation has impacted nearly all privatised capital city and general aviation airports. Essendon Airport's contested transformation from a run‐down general aviation facility into an emergent business and retail hub in Melbourne's north‐western suburbs serves as an instructive case study of the evolution of the airport city as a new suburban typology. Drawing in part on in‐depth interviews with key stakeholders involved in the redevelopment process, this paper examines the conflicting forces that have driven commercialisation since the late 1990s, the spatial outcomes and the wider planning issues arising.     

国际空港的大区位及其规划布局问题——以广州新白云机场为例

国际空港是现代化大都市的一个重要标志。我国沿海一些重要的大都市正在规划建设新的国际机场。特别在我国超大城市群地区和城镇密集区,例如在珠三角超大城市群区的广州与深圳。本文以广州新白云国际机场为例,对国际空港的发展背景、区位选择、布局原则、机场现代化设施以及机场与城市总体布局的互动发展的关系等关键问题,进行尝试性的探索,孜求更多学者对此问题研究的兴趣。     

The “Commons” Versus the “Commodity”: Alter‐globalization,Anti‐privatization and the Human Right to Water in the Global South

Abstract: In response to the growth of private sector involvement in water supply management globally, anti‐privatization campaigns for a human right to water have emerged in recent years. Simultaneously, alter‐globalization activists have promoted alternative water governance models through North‐South red‐green alliances between organized labour, environmental groups, women's groups, and indigenous groups. In this paper, I explore these distinct (albeit overlapping) responses to water privatization. I first present a generic conceptual model of market environmentalist reforms, and explore the contribution of this framework to debates over ‘neoliberalizing nature’. This conceptual framework is applied to the case of anti‐privatization activism to elucidate the limitations of the human right to water as a conceptual counterpoint to privatization, and as an activist strategy. In contrast, I argue that alter‐globalization strategies—centred on concepts of the commons—are more conceptually coherent, and also more successful as activist strategies. The paper concludes with a reiteration of the need for greater conceptual precision in our analyses of neoliberalization, for both academics and activists.     

Global TransPark: New Competitiveness for Hong Kong and South China Based on Air Logistics

Economic globalization in the past two decades has led to a fast pace of growth of many economies in Asia Pacific, and impacted on the region's growth in air cargo. This paper discusses the future of airport infrastructure and its effect on regional competitiveness in the form of a new type of airport — Global TransPark (GTP). It identifies China's need to forge such a critical infrastructure in the New Economy, and that South China is its best location. The Hong Kong Extended Metropolitan Region (EMR) in South China stands out among competitive regions in Asia in terms of geopolitical and institutional setting under ‘One Country, Two Systems’ as the best general location for Asia's first and potentially largest GTP. Forging a GTP will promote the EMR's overall competitiveness and hastens its economic restructuring. The paper then discusses the advantages of Zhuhai Airport as the site of the potential GTP which will also incorporate the other four nearby airports within the EMR. The GTP is also a new challenge for intra-EMR cooperation in terms of customs and tariff, air rights, ground handling, and land and water transport coordination between its airports and respective local governments.     

China's Air Passenger Transport: An Analysis of Recent Trends

Two China-based transportation geographers examine trends and developments revealed by the release of the most recent official data on traffic and airport capacity within mainland China's domestic air passenger transport system. The focus of the study is the uneven spatial distribution of airports and airport service hinterlands, as well as the hierarchical nature of passenger flows centered within the axis Beijing-Shanghai-Guangzhou (Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan are not included in the analysis). Among the questions investigated are the efficiency/balance within the system, as well as the extent to which the distribution of airports and air passenger flow volumes reflect basic patterns of economic and urban development within the country, and conform with a hub-and-spoke model. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L50, L93, O18, R40. 5 figures, 5 tables, 30 references.     

‘Aerial Silk Roads’: Airport Infrastructures in China's Belt and Road Initiative

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is widely touted as China's answer to development through international connectivity. The scheme has often been linked to China's objectives of crafting a new world order centred on itself and/or stabilizing its economy through externalizing surplus capacity. While important in broadly framing China's relationship with the world, this article posits that such a fixation on state-centric visions of development leaves the door open for misinterpretation, mistaking the BRI for a coherent set of projects imposed ‘from above’. Delving into the execution of infrastructure planning on the ground, this article argues that taking a practice-oriented approach to large-scale developmental schemes can more accurately shed light on their internally fractured processes. Two airport projects in central China branded as part of the country's ‘aerial Silk Roads’ are examined to illustrate these dynamics, with particular attention paid to the airports’ shifting conceptualizations, the competitive motivations behind their (re)construction, and the social relations sustaining them. The authors argue that closely tracking the unfolding of a range of infrastructure planning practices within specific projects can demystify modern-day developmental programmes like the BRI, by revealing how their ‘grand’ visions are often reinterpreted, altered and frustrated at local levels, even before they have a chance to influence the world.     

Exploit or Protect Airport Regions from Urbanization? Assessment of Land-use Restrictions in Amsterdam-Schiphol

Airports are no longer only places for take-off and landing, but increasingly became economic nodes in the urban development of metropolitan areas. Though it is debatable to what extent aviation growth is a cause or effect of economic growth, the reciprocal relationship cannot be denied. Most past developments near airports have been spontaneous and haphazard, but recently regional planners have increasingly included an airport focus. Airport planning aims to find a balance between exploitation of the economic potential and protecting the airport area from congestion and urbanization. This article examines the effects of land-use restriction policies near Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Within the Schiphol area, only airport-related companies are allowed to establish their business near the airport. These policies have been implemented since 1987, but their success or failure was never evaluated in depth. For the first time empirical results show that land-use restriction policies could ban most of the undesired businesses near the airport. However, despite varieties of implementation and interpretation of the testing, few differences in effects are found. This study shows that airport-relatedness testing is a typically Dutch planning instrument, but can also be useful for other international airports.     

Managing Neoliberal Urban Spaces: Commercial Property Development at Australian Airports

Airports are remaking Australian cities as they remake themselves as privatised enclaves of commercial entrepreneurialism. In line with overseas trends towards airport cities, all major federally leased Australian airports now derive a significant proportion of their revenue from non‐aeronautical property development. New land uses such as direct factory outlets, big‐box retailing, and even brickworks have proven most controversial. State governments, local councils, community groups, industry, and professional associations have expressed concerns about these commercial developments with statutory responsibility for development approvals vested solely in the federal government. The paper draws on the concept of ‘actually existing neoliberalism’ to interpret the making of the new market‐driven airport spaces, the controversies which have ensued, and the re‐regulatory interventions of the Commonwealth required to address community tensions. The debate about development of non‐aeronautical activities on federally leased airport land is explored through the lens of the National Aviation Policy Review. The recommendations of this Review aim to incrementally reconfigure the policy commitment to ‘light handed’ regulation but future planning conflicts seem inevitable.     

Images of regulation: Travel agent legislation and the deregulation debate

During the last two years travel agents have changed from being relatively unregulated (outside New South Wales) to regulated in terms of licensing and compensation fund membership requirements. Why has this happened during a period when political debate has centred on deregulation? It is a premise of this paper that arguments in favour of deregulation rest on an image of the State as a prison for private entre‐preneurship; and arguments in favour of regulation rest on an image of the State as a protector of the consumer and public interest Both images are superficial and belie the nature of State‐capital‐consumer relationships and ideologies. Underlying each are rationalist assumptions which suggest that the State and industry are static, ahistorical objects; that governments have unambiguous intentions; and that regulation and deregulation are always successful. Each of these assumptions is questioned. By focusing on a history of travel agency regulations, this paper endeavours to uncover that which these images obscure in the deregulation debate.     

Longing for the New Jerusalem

Abstract

The following article is concerned with the changing nature of religion in Northern Europe. It considers first the concepts of "believing without belonging" and "vicarious religion," pointing out the limitations of each and drawing extensively on previously published work. The following section discusses in more detail a shift that is currently taking place—that is from forms of religion that are imposed or inherited to forms of religion that are primarily chosen. Particular attention is paid to the implications of these changes for the rites of passage. The final section reflects on the theological consequences of these changes, first with a more detailed discussion of notion of vicariousness and second by examining the complex relationship between the public and the private in religious life. It argues that forms of religion that are chosen rather than inherited have implications for the public as well as the private sphere. They are ill-served by an over-rigorous application of the concept of privatization.     

SPATIAL HEDONIC MODELS OF AIRPORT NOISE,PROXIMITY, AND HOUSING PRICES*

ABSTRACT Despite the refrain that housing prices are determined by “location, location, and location,” few studies of airport noise and housing prices have incorporated spatial econometric techniques. We compare various spatial econometric models and estimation methods in a hedonic price framework to examine the impact of noise on 2003 housing prices near the Atlanta airport. Spatial effects are best captured by a model including both spatial autocorrelation and autoregressive parameters estimated by a generalized moments approach. In our preferred model, houses located in an area in which noise disrupts normal activities (defined by a day–night sound level of 70–75 decibels) sell for 20.8 percent less than houses located where noise does not disrupt normal activities (defined by a day–night sound level below 65 decibels). The inclusion of spatial effects magnifies the negative price impacts of airport noise. Finally, after controlling for noise, houses farther from the airport sell for less; the price elasticity with respect to distance is −0.15, implying that airport proximity is an amenity.     

Lessons From Privatization Task Forces

This study provides evidence on an aspect of privatization that is increasing in popularity yet rarely considered in the literature: the effect that private-sector task forces have on privatization efforts. It uses case studies from Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, to provide evidence on the role of task forces in reengineering government and suggests how future privatization efforts can benefit from this knowledge. Specifically, it suggests that task forces need to establish realistic timetables, understand that there are fundamental differences between the public and private sectors, and work without predetermined biases to achieve desired ends. In addition, they need to identify services that are appropriate for privatization, understand the nature of privatization, and accept both the strengths and weaknesses of it. While the results of privatization endeavors may vary, they may be enhanced by adopting a new awareness of how private-sector task forces influence privatization efforts.     

Private School Enrollment and Public School Performance

Advocates of education privatization often take two general approaches to denigrating commonplace public school monopoly service provision assignments. One general argument is that public school administrators are self-interested rent-seekers, which is evidenced by the ever-enlarging bureaucracies they operate. This argument has been roundly criticized by Kevin Smith and Kenneth Meier (1994, 1995) in two methodologically rigorous analyses. The second general argument is grounded in the assumption that public school student performance will improve if public schools are forced to compete for enrollment with private school alternatives. The evidence regarding this claim of privatization advocates has been contested in a systematic study of North Carolina school districts, but requires further analysis to determine if these findings can be generalized to school districts writ large. Such a replication study is presented here, with findings reported that are in agreement with those of Newmark (1995).     

The Impact of U.S. Airline Deregulation on Airport Traffic Patterns

This paper surveys changes in the U.S. National Airway System since the 1960s. The most appropriate measures for summarizing air traffic distributions at airports are investigated, with the Gini Index of Concentration being used extensively to analyze U.S. airport traffic patterns over a twenty-four-year period. The properties of the Gini index and other measures are compared and discussed in detail in the context of analyzing air traffic distributions. It is shown how concentration in the traffic patterns at the larger airports was at a high level prior to deregulation, but since 1978, the patterns have gradually become even more concentrated.