From airfield to aerotropolis

From airfield to aerotropolis
A Central European perspective on
airport led economic development
Dear Partners,
Dear Partners,
The airLED project substantially contributes to the spectacular development of our regions. Project partners can be described as many aircraft flying in a formation, each having its
unique story to tell.
The participation of Mazovia
Voivodeship in the airLED project
and in many other international
projects is an important point of
integrated regional development
policy, which is implemented for
many years and based on dialogue between the stakeholders.
The activities undertaken are reflected in the strategic documents
of the region, a coherent vision of
area and clearly defined of goals,
which determine the developmental processes of the region related
to the civilizational challenges of
XXI century.
We never lose sight of this relationship between us, because
we know that this is one of the most essential areas for the
development of our region. One of the most important messages of the airLED project implemented through the Central
European Programme and co-financed by the European Union and our country is that we can help and share our experiences with each other, and make our own decisions about
our own affairs.
This is what the airLED project is about.
AirLED is about thinking together, working together and succeed together.
The airLED project is about creating a solid financial and professional background for an integrated economic development strategy.
The objective: was to create good practices, information bases, and our own treasure chests together as partners, of which everybody will take what best suits their needs, and use the methods, technological solutions,
planning processes which they currently need.
As a Lead Partner, together with our domestic and international partners, we have come up with and laid the
foundation for developments in airport catchment areas, which will in years to come bring innovative, comprehensive changes and improve living standards.
The implementation of the airLED project over the years is one of the main token of the economic innovation
of BUD Airport and its catchment area, and hopefully that of the other participating regions as well, and at the
same time, it also serves as a guarantee for the universal and continuous development.
It is my personal experience that the aldermen of our neighbouring town of Vecsés, Mazovia in Poland, the
Slovenian Gorenjska and the Italian Emilia-Romagna feel the same, so every aspect of our joint efforts is not
only about us, but our partners as well. About the common past, the life we lead and the future the outlines of
which are already visible: the building of Airport Cities.
I would like to thank all experts, project managers, international and domestic professionals for their work.
Attila Ughy
mayor of District XVIII of Budapest
airLED project refers to areas with
great potential where the Airport
City can come to reality. It focuses attention on the development of areas near
airports (catchment airport areas) by strategic planning. Surroundings of airports especially those international has enormous potential, which gives the opportunity to
the investment of public - private partnership and becomes a stimulus to economic development, creating an attractive place for investors. Warsaw Modlin Airport,
Airport City to be developed could introduce a new value the cultural value in the
form of Modlin Fortress, which may contribute to identity and will be specific point
concerning the uniqueness of the location in Europe.
airLED project is a pioneer project in Europe. It provides a platform for exchange of
experiences for all participants who are involved in building strategies and development plans of airport catchment areas. The achieved project results in international
terms are important from the point of view of the implementation primary objective
of European integration which is to stimulate socio-economic development and to
ensure sustainable development of the whole EU area.
I hope that the activities taken and the cooperation will serve to build and strengthen
the economic position of the land around airports in the regions.
Adam Struzik
Marshal of Mazovia Voivodeship
Introduction:
A well-planned airport that is integrated with the surrounding areas can provide an economic boost to an entire region. Four Central European regions have been involved in the airLED project to
come up with a long-term development concept for economically isolated airport areas. The project focused on assessing the
development of “Airport Cities” in Europe, analysing the needs
of “Airport Cities” and the areas around them, and supporting
designated bodies that represent major stakeholders in the development.
The main objective was to create economic development plans
that can be integrated into the local, regional or national plans
for the next EU budget period. Secondly, to enable the regions
involved to attract investment that can create jobs and help local
urban development, by providing them tools, studies – a commonly elaborated know-how. For the integrated development of
airports and the areas around tasks and responsibilities needed
to be divided between the cities in the area.
A brief description
of the airLED project
The Local Government of Budapest District 18 decided to come
up with a long-term development concept of airport areas to address the socio-economic impacts of globalisation and the rapidly changing economic environment. However, the city realised
that the best way to tackle such a complex issue is to join forces
with regions facing similar challenges and share the view that
airport areas are an opportunity to increase competitiveness and
cohesion of the local, but nevertheless the whole Central European region.
Four regions - Budapest (HU), Mazovia (PL), Gorenjska (SI), Emilia Romagna (IT) - formed the airLED partnership in order to create a strategic framework along the vision of becoming an Airport
City. Each region is represented by public bodies and knowledge
institutions.
The process:
from A to Z
TThe specific objective of airLED was to help integrated polycentric development planning in Central Europen airport catchment
areas with the view of becoming Airport Cities.
Strategy building had three pillars:
(1) Logistics and transport;
(2) Spatial development, environment and architecture and
(3) Business and investment development.
airLED investigated and offered strategic solutions to use the untapped socio-economic potential of airport areas, actively involving
local, regional and national stakeholders.
The objective of the project was achieved through a number of
core activities: making an EU state-of-art report on Airport City development; status quo analysis for each region. Strategy building
was implemented by the intensive process of Open Living Labs
with the participation of all key stakeholders in the various aspects
of development. The project put great emphasis on the cooperation between urban, sub-urban and regional players who have a
stake in regional and economic development by facilitating cooperation between them taking a bottom-up approach to strategic
planning. As part of this process, cases of the formulating transnational strategic framework were tested. Pilot results were fed
back into the transnational toolkit and were used when finalizing
the regional development plans:
Pilot 1) Policy-making Case: statistical modelling tool to support
spatial and economic development and simulation of the future
possibilities.
Pilot 2) Business Case: investment and business development
using the One-Stop Shop concept.
Pilot 3) Visual Case: easily adaptable 3D plans for decision makers and investors using a 3D Modelling Tool.
Stakeholders and all relevant parties in all four regions were actively involved in the project progress, forming the Regional Development Coordination Bodies (RDCBs). Through RDCBs, key
stakeholders followed project progress from early implementation
and shaped the contents of the regional development plans by
continuously providing their inputs and regularly formulating recommendations.
This way, early initiation of endorsement of project results were
guaranteed. The regional integrated polycentric development
plans were built upon the findings of the analytical phases (inter
alia the Regional Status Quo Reports that analyse the current
states of the different economic environments). These regional development plans include strategic outlines, but importantly, can be
integrated into the local, regional or national plans for the next EU
budget period.
These regional plans outline steps to become and Airport City
and concrete ideas for future implementation. Stakeholders’ involvement as well as regional planning led to a regional roadmap
for endorsement after project lifetime. The roadmaps are integral
parts of the airLED strategic framework and are based on a common methodology, however, reflects the intrinsic decision-making
mechanism and structures relevant to the regions.
Airport city concept
The metropolitan area centred on an airport is called an aerotropolis. Its infrastructural layout and local economy develops around and in relation to the airport. Similar to traditional
cities it is built up as a central core – the airport – and outlying areas that surround it. The aerotropolis is occupied by a
variety of clusters of aviation-linked businesses and residential suburbs surrounding the airport.
The aerotropolis model was first been described by Professor
John D. Kasarda, director of the Center for Air Commerce at
University of North Carolina’s Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and Kenan Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. According
to him the need for global connectivity and the increased speed
of transport created new urban hubs around airports, the development of which may be facilitated by developing efficient transport systems – dedicated multilane highways and express transit
networks – allowing seamless connectivity for production, logistics,
business facilities and residential neighbourhoods settled around
The airport used to be a
place limited for the landing
and take-off of airplanes.
By now the modern airport
has become much more
significant for the future of
regional economies than
being a simple transport infrastructure. Air cargo and
passenger volume growth
induced the development
of larger and more efficient
airports that also embraced
commercial and industrial development creating a
new regional magnet for
the economy.
The runway became a focal point for dynamic economic systems: industry,
logistics, office, hotel, entertainment… Convention
centres, hotels and even
residential
neighbourhoods create a real city
around the airport. What once was a city or regional airport
has now become the airport city or in the case of regional airports the wider airport region became an aerotropolis.
Tourism and the expansion of aviation-intensive producer
services such as consulting, finance, and marketing and
timecritical businesses of all types such as microelectronics,
pharmaceuticals, medical instruments, aerospace components, and specialty perishables are the key drivers of metropolitan growth around airports.
the airport. In his view aviation is the 21st century’s ‘physical internet’ that provides speedy, long-distance physical connectivity
using airports as its ‘routers’.
In Europe Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport can be mentioned, which
employs over 60,000 people and incorporates expansive shopping and entertainment arcades within its passenger terminal.
A major office and convention centre connects directly to the
terminal, whereas cargo distribution, office parks, and time-sen-
sitive light industry areas are located along the outer edges of the
airport. Schiphol is considered a a major urban corridor between
Amsterdam and Rotterdam sharing the strength and quality of
these cities’ central business districts.
European urban planning traditions are more conservative compared to the US and Asia. As a result European airports, with a
few exceptions, have limited potentials to become real centres of
self-contained urban zones. Potentials to turn the airport into a
destination by providing entertainment, shopping and catering as
a model has limitations based on accessibility. Major hubs may
exploit their real estate based
on conference & leisure centres, theme parks, hotels, offices and warehouses. In the
case of regional airports with
lower traffic and high share
of low-cost operators may
become successful logistics
hubs in their regions, whereas airports near cities holding
the key connections may remain focused on core airport
activities.
A more diverse strategy of
the airport region development is thus seen in Europe
ranging from satellite airports
(e.g. Stockholm) where development potentials arise
from the connectivity of the
airport location with its wider region, airport-cities (e.g.
Schiphol), where the airport
is seamlessly integrated into
the wider urban fabric and
polycentric cities (like in the
case of Paris), where the airport may become an important hub within the larger multi-centric
metropolitan region. Last but not least airports near very centralized cities (e.g. Vienna), where the property market of the metropolis outweighs the development potentials of the airport that
is limited by environmental and land planning constraints all offer
viable airport-city and airport-region alternatives that have relevance both from the business-economic and from the planning
and development perspective to the CEE region’s aspiring airport
area developments.
Good practices
for “Airport City”
in Europe
The air connections and the air traffic volume are very important factors to enable an airport to develop into an “airport
city”. There is a certain minimum of number of passengers
and/ or cargo volume which is needed to operate a place
and to offer passangers services like shopping, restaurants
etc. It is also important that a certain share of the passengers
should be people with higher purchasing power like businessmen to whom can be offered the special services at and
around the airport. Good practices in Europe can be found
everywhere: in Amsterdam, in London, in Munich or even in
the neighbourhood in Vienna.
Schiphol airport provides a considerable solution for connectivity: although it’s located quite far away from the Central Business District but it is connected to the surrounding
area as the main railway station of Amsterdam is located
at Schiphol airport. In other cities the airport is serves as a
“Meeting-point” of businessmen working in different parts of
the continent and the facilities of the airport can lodge the
“regular meeting of directors”. MEven the airport can be the
“entrance” of a large exhibition centre of a region (e.g. Madrid, Bologna etc.) because they are located within 10 minutes from the airport. It is also important when an airport can
appear at the “market” with its “special offers” like medical
services in Munich or aircraft maintenance in Budapest.
It is always important that the passengers arriving or departing the airport can connect direct to the other travel modes
by intermodal facilities. If the passengers don’t need to cross
the city next to the airport but can arrive to the airports’ parking by highways or to the railway or bus station below the
chek-in desks the passenger flow could be smooth and by
this solution the whole door-to-door travelling time can be reduced. By the good solutions can make airports and airlines
competitive even in short distances as well, when airports
have to compete with the high-speed rail which use to have
their stations in the city centres. There are also several examples from Frankfurt to Zurich, or Paris.
HUNGARY
According to the regional and local development documents, the local governments of
the region have become increasingly aware of the potentials of the airport. The Integrated
Urban Development Strategy of Budapest and the Strategic and Operative Programme
of Pest County both identified action areas in the region. This however is not reflected by
national transport and economic policies. Extension of transport infrastructure suitable
for a TEN-T core airport has been postponed and state-level legal and financial framework necessary for adequate development is lacking.
Ferihegy Airport Region
Development Plan
The greater metropolitan area around Budapest experienced dynamic growth before the
global financial crisis hit the Hungarian property market in 2008. In addition to the general
recession Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport also lost an important partner,
when MALÉV, the Hungarian national carrier went bankrupt and as a result the recently
refurbished Terminal 1 had to be closed. The positive trends: growing number of jobs,
expanding local service and leisure facilities and the expansion of newly built housing
project, which characterised the region prior to the crises, have all stopped. Although
the worst part of the crises seems to be over as the Hungarian economy has one of
the highest GDP growth rates in Europe at the moment, the recovery of urban property
markets is yet to be seen.
Land speculation and exhilarated ambitions generated an oversupply of land designated for urban and industrial development in the municipalities that surround the airport.
Despite the closeness of the international airport the main drivers for growth were mainly
low land prices, good access to the motorway network (particularly the orbital motorway
M0, around Budapest, that connects the motorways leading to the West, South and
East) and to secondary main roads and the employment potential of the region. As a
result – regardless of the business generation capacity of the airport – the region does
not excel in terms of enterprise density compared to other areas along the M0 motorway.
Although access to air cargo attracted express delivery companies and other logistics
operators, the primary reason to find a location in the Budapest Metropolitan Area has
not been the proximity of the airport.
As one of the main gates of international tourism, in 2014 the airport is expected to reach
8.5 million passengers. Although such volume is not considered an outstanding figure
in European comparison, the settlements of the catchment area do profit from tourism
through visitor nights and parking fees. However, the most significant income for municipalities stems from the property tax paid by the airport. In addition to all these, the
significance of the airport becomes apparent through spill-over effects in the national
economy. As the gateway of tourism, the airport significantly contributes to the
total spending of the tourists staying and consuming in Hungary.
The commitment of local and regional bodies expressed in planning documents is not
backed by an appropriate regional institutional system. Cooperation among stakeholders like Budapest Airport, Pest County, Budapest Municipality, Budapest districts and
neighbouring municipalities, the National Infrastructure Development Company, the National Railways Company and the Budapest Transport Company are limited to bilateral
agreements or protocols. Cooperation between municipalities and private investors has
not gained an imprint in strategic decisions like local tax and land use policy.
Proposed investments on land belonging to the airport are hindered by legal obstacles
not permitting the involvement of third party developers. The airLED project – initiated
and led by the Local Government of the 18th District of Budapest – aims to promote
a Government Decision to declare the airport and catchment area a special economic
zone, to provide guarantees to fund the necessary transport infrastructure developments
using national and EU funds, as well as in amandement of the legal environment so that
legal obstacles for involvement of external financing of development within the the airport
would be ceased. In doing so, it has generated cooperation among key stakeholders
and formulated a common vision to promote and to provide a foundation for the above
mentioned goals.
Spatial structural vision
The catchment area of the airport is the eastern gateway to and from the greater
metropolitan area of the Hungarian capital. The ‘Airport Corridor’ forming the
central axis of this region is an 18 km long urban-suburban ’strip’ between the
CBD of Budapest and the M0 motorway with a maximum width of 2 km connecting a series of intermodal hubs and neighbourhood centres.
The regional plan highlighted major infrastructure development needs (part of
them already in progress) and identified two clusters of integrated spatial development along the corridor. One of these clusters includes three action areas
around Terminal 2, one within the airport, another at the border between Vecsés
and District 18 and one is in the neighbouring municipality of Ecser. The other
highlighted cluster of potential developments is to be found between Pestszentlőrinc centre and Terminal I. The cluster includes suburban residential neighbourhoods, brownfield industrial areas, airport functions, several sport facilities, a
cemetery, municipal administrative and health care centres, several educational
facilities, railway and tramway stations. Transition and consolidation of this area
may start by the envisaged transport network development. Important structural
element of the catchment area is the integrated zone of ‘urban metabolism’ and
recreation. This zone consists mainly of croplands, small garden lots, pieces of
forests and wetlands. This zone is destined for recreation, urban climate control
and nature conservation, while the enhancing demand for pieces of land for new
urban operation functions like decentralized energy supply, rainwater retention
and eventually also agribusiness or clusters or zero carbon’ housing can be fulfilled here on an optimally organised, integrated manner.
Conditions
of implementation
The integrated regional development plan has formulated a complex set of
recommendations in order to fulfill the requirements necessary to implement
the plan. The measures are highly intertwined and partially build upon each other.
Branding aims at marketing and strengthening territorial cohesion (identity) at the same time. Branding is value-oriented and synthetizes the potentials: advantageous location of the airport, healthcare cluster along the airport
corridor, attractiveness of Budapest as a tourist destination, logistics cluster
next to the M0 motorway. It is future-oriented, as it refers to the future possibilities like its situation in the Carpathian Basin, environmental awareness,
training cluster related to aviation and logistics.
Territorial cohesion is a top priority. Enhancement of institutional capacity
(establishment of regional decision-making body) and instrumental capacity
(amendment of legal and financial background) have been identified as prerequisites in order to exploit completely the territorial potentials. The development
plan has identified
Key projects – indicative list
Creation and Integrated Development of Special Economic Zone
S1.
Establishment of the institutions and legal environment of regional development in the Ferihegy Airport Region
S2.
Establishment and marketing of the regional real estate portfolio and inventory (by synchronizing Integrated Urban Development Strategies and
the structural plans)
S3.
Human resource development programs according to the demands of
avation and related businesses
S4.
Setting up the complex environmental management program and the establishment of the implementation tools
Transport, logistics
K1.
Reconstruction of the road leading to the airport
K2.
Reconstruction of the railway line between Budapest and Cegléd (100a),
development of railway areas
K3.
The planning and technical preparation of the transport infrastructure to be
constructed through the airport area
K4.
Planning and technical preparation of the new junction to highway 31
K5.
Extending the shuttle bus service from the airport to the International and
National Bus Terminal
K6.
Connection between District 18 and Vecsés I.
K7.
Constructing internal traffic network of Airport City
K8.
Network development to create the regional centre role of Pestszentlőrinc
district centre and to promote the labour force mobility of the Eastern Gate
region
K9.
Planning and technical preparation of Alacskai Road District 18 - Határ
Road, Vecsés-Gyál
K10. Construction of a modern guided public transport service on Üllői Road
between Határ Road underground station and the Ferihegy-Vecsés inter-modal junction, reconstruction of Üllői Road
Integrated action area projects
A 1.
BUD FUTURE Program
A 2.
Development of the area of Terminal 1 and HungaroControl – reinforcing
the conference-convention centre and training function
A 3.
Integrated urban rehabilitation of subcentre Pestszentlőrinc and reintegration related brownfield sites – planning and time-dependent realization
A 4.
Development of the Ferihegy-Vecsés inter-modal junction area – Airport
City area
A 5.
Development of areas connected to the track of the new Highway 31 between Ecser and Aerotropolis
SLOVENIA
and chartered flights; the airport also handles freight
traffic from several airlines and is used as a primary hub
for South few eastern Europe by two of them. An important point to make is also that Ljubljana airport lies in an
area of high competition between local airports.
In Slovenia as a whole, employment has been falling since 2009 due to the global economic crisis and
closing of bankrupts of companies in different sectors,
most notably construction and service sectors. In the
last decade, the Gorenjska region, which is the primary interest area of the airport, has seen an increase in
the number of work positions in the tertiary sector, with
a 56,5 % share of employment in the service sector in
2012. Despite this, some municipalities still struggle to
overcome their highly industrialized past and transition
into the service sector. The highest increase of employment can be seen in professional, scientific and technical sectors, health care, social care and education. This
again shows high potential in the region for research and
development.
Gorenjska Region
Regional
Development Plan
Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport (Ljubljana airport) is situated in the Gorensjka region, approximately 25 km
northwest of Ljubljana and the intersection of two
Pan-European corridors: V and X. Direct connectivity
within minutes to the arterial roads of Slovenia, namely
its highway system, is a major advantage and stimulus for further development of the airport. Even though
road infrastructure in the vicinity of the airport is well
developed and even improving, passenger transport in
the vicinity, mostly to the airport from larger surrounding cities, is still highly dependent on personal vehicle
use due to a lack of public transport options.
Ljubljana airport has no rail connections whatsoever,
and the nearest railway station is in Kranj, almost 10
kilometres of road distance from the airport. This can
be seen as one of the major problems in the development of the airport city in the future, since it hinders passenger as well as cargo transport. A new high
speed electrified rail between Ljubljana and the state
border with a connection to Ljubljana airport under the
coordination of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning is planned and the end of construction is
planned for 2023.
Ljubljana airport has direct connections with 25 European airports, meaning approximately 200 flights weekly.
Eight airlines are currently using the airport for regular
important large cities, notably Slovenia’s capital city of
Ljubljana, as well as two large Austrian cities, Villach and
Klagenfurt. Moreover, the 120 minutes service area includes the majority of Slovenia and all of its larger cities,
as well as a significant part of Austria and a smaller part
of Italy, including Udine and Trieste.
A total of 73 entities operate on the Ljubljana airport, a
majority of them in the field of supplementary, non-aeronautical activities. Overall, we can assess that currently,
passengers are well taken care of at the Ljubljana airport, and therefore it would be sensible to give current
business entities an opportunity to develop and expand
their activities both in-fence and out-fence in the growing airport city, surrounding today’s airport.
Passenger transport is currently one of the main activities of the airport. In the last few years, the trend of passenger throughput has been falling, most notably from
the onset of the economic crisis with the year 2009.
Similarly, cargo throughput stalled in 2009, but evidence
of an increasing trend can be seen in the past years. It
is predicted that in the coming 17 year, passenger traffic
will increase by almost 80 % (2030 projection in comparison to 2013 plan) and cargo traffic by nearly 40 %.
The time frame of 20 minutes travel from Ljubljana airport includes the nearby cities such as Kranj, Kamnik
and Domžale. The 60 minutes service area includes
The Gorenjska region is under-developed in comparison
to the EU-27 average. In 2010 it reached 69,4 % of GDP
of EU-27, measured by purchasing power standard
per capita and has a 1,5 times lower GDP than neighbouring regions in Italy and Austria. On fields other than
GDP such as education, unemployment or aging index,
Gorenjska is equal or even surpassing other comparative and competitive regions.
Tourism is a significant industry from the point of view
of an airport’s prospects. Gorenjska region with its
nature, cultural heritage, events and activities, is an
important tourist destination, with over 650.000 tourists per year.
All in all, the Gorenjska region is a typical alpine region
with picturesque and diverse landscapes, which also has
the advantage of great geostrategic position and good
accessibility. It is a traditional tourist region in Slovenia,
which which generates an important part of Slovenia’s income from tourism. Its crucial advantages and the starting points for further development are its typical alpine
landscape with extremely rich and well preserved natural
al sector and link partners from the industry and public
research sector, centres of excellence are organizations,
established within the framework of the scientific and
technology policy of the Republic of Slovenia aimed at
promoting the concentration of knowledge at priority
technological areas and horizontal linking along the entire chain of knowledge development. All centres include
University of Ljubljana as a partner and most operate
from the airport catchment area.
Since Ljubljana’s airport has historically been an important transport hub in Slovenia, its development plans are
always a main point of discussion. Consequently, a development master plan for the airport is already in place,
which is a starting point for this document. Airport infrastructure development is based on the fundamental
development document entitled Master Plan, the Energy Strategy and the existing spatial plans. This includes
plans for transport connectivity, a new passenger and a
new cargo terminal. The capacity of the new terminal will
be 1 800 passengers per hour. The new cargo terminal
will have 9 945 m2 of warehouse area and 3 500 m2 of
office area and supporting facilities. sights as well as its cultural heritage in old town centres
and in the rural areas. These are tourist destinations
that are already well developed and have an established
tourist base.
Competence centres are development and research
centres that are managed by partners from the industri-
The two figures show the elements of the perfect airport
city that this document proposes for Ljubljana’s airport
city. Due to the specifics of the airport catchment area,
the first figure presents the elements which are proposed
inside the actual airport city limits, and the second figure
presents the elements of a perfect airport city which will
be available to the airport city customers, meaning it includes the services found in the vicinity (catchment area)
of the airport.
POLAND
Resources and Environmental Qualities and
Improving the Environment Standards
2. Policy of Shaping and Protecting the Cultural
Landscape
3. Policy of Developing Business Activity and
Intensifying the Development around Warsaw
Modlin Airport
4. Technical Infrastructure Systems Development Policy
5. Policy of Improving the Accessibility and Transport
Effectiveness of the Area.
Regional
Development Plan
of Warsaw Modlin
Airport Catchment
Area
This document is the first step for the implementation of the
concept of Modlin Airport City and indicates the policy Mazovia Voivodeship and municipalities of Pomiechówek, Zakroczym and Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki and also institutions,
which participated in the airLED project as RDCB members.
Target vision of Airport City has been defined by indicating
the directions in which should be lead locally and regionally development spatial policy.
Warsaw Modlin Airport based on J. Kasarda assumptions
should provide following functions: cargo segment, conference centre and exhibition halls, hotels, medical and
wellness cluster. Proximity to Polish capital city - Warsaw,
metropolitan area and unique former Modlin Fortress (Twierdza Modlin), are surely significant features that are going
to be helpful when choosing specific functions.
The vision of spatial development area around Warsaw Modlin Airport will be implemented through
policies addressed to specific areas:
1. Farm Production Space Development Policy,
together with Policy of Shaping and Preserving the
The plan sets out the priorities and main development objectives for the area around Warsaw Modlin
airport. The aims are to:
• Increase in competitiveness area including conducting the necessary investment in technical infrastructure
around areas of Warsaw Modlin Airport, establish of formal and legal conditions to create new jobs and creation
of coherent and comprehensive investment offer, taking
account of Modlin Fortress (Twierdza Modlin);
• Improvement of territorial coherence areas including
construction of Warsaw Modlin Airport infrastructure’s elements (cargo) and road system elements and a railway
connector and railway connection;
• Improvement of Warsaw accessibility including creation of a system allowing fast passenger and goods
transport, construction of a logistic centre, creation of the
around-airport area’s brand, taking account of former of
Modlin Fortress potential;
• Shaping the spatial structure, providing improvement
and maintenance of a high quality natural environmental
and landscape qualities through creation of a green ring
around Warsaw Modlin Airport City and historic sites usage as tourist destinations.
Spatial development
directions
From a general perspective, target functional and spatial
structure of the area included in the plan will be shaped
into a polycentric-band structure. The area of Modlin Airport will be the key structure-binding terrain. Historically-shaped Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki and Zakroczyn areas
will function as centres urbanising around this area. These
areas will be supplemented by the center in Pomiechówek
and urbanising terrains north of the airport. Economic
development zones located from east to west and from
north to south along the existing and planned transport
corridor will act there as structure-binding elements.Apartment and commercial areas are going to be located in the
vicinity of areas meant for the development of economic
functions. The southern zone comprises historically developed urban structures. The northern zone stretches
from the forest complex in the vicinity of Wymysły village,
up to Pomiechówek. The building placement was formed
as development corridors. As opposed to southern zone,
northern zone is divided by forest complexes ranging from
north to south. The biggest unbuilt area reserves of apartment and commercial functions are present in this location.
The band of nature and culture areas will act as an element concentrating
growth around the airport. This element is based on existing protected
natural environment areas and Twierdza Modlin’s fort system, surrounding the development areas. Without this band, there would only exist a
zone of open farming areas (including forests) which are free of intensive
urbanisation processes.
Priorities
1. The Rationality Rule - accommodating social,
economic, environmental and spatial benefits
over longer periods;
2. The Spatial Structures Multifunctionality
Rule - outlining multifunctional progress activating
areas (i.e. transport corridor areas) in every place where
there are no environmental and sociocultural
contraindications;
3. The Integrity and Continuity (spatial and functional)
Rule - pointing out areas of environmental value, legally
protected and predestined to be legally protected
in future, ecological corridors;
4. The Regeneration Preference Rule - realized through
intensification of the existing development,
counteracting the process of occupying new
areas for buildings;
5. The Nature Compensation Rule - space management
which allows maintaining the balance in natural envi
ronment and compensating the damage caused by
spatial development, increase in urbanisation level and
investments necessary for socioeconomic reasons
which lack alternatives neutral for the nature;
6. The Ecological Foresight Rule - counteracting the
threats, based on anticipation;
7. The Environmental, Cultural and Landscape Protection Complimentarity Rule - creating the environmental and cultural zones;
8. The Economical Energy Use and Waste Production
Limitation Rule;
9. The Economical Water Use and Retention Increase Rule;
10.The Zoning and Outlining Problematic and Functional
Areas Rule;
11.TheSpatial Collision and Social Conflicts Limitation Rule through
socialisation
12.and social participation in creating strategic and program
documents.
ITALY
Emilia-Romagna Region’s point of view on the Airport city
concept is therefore applied to the regional airport system
and it is focused on creating and strengthening relationships between airport nodes and their territories rather
than on planning new infrastructures. This is one of the
points underlined in airLED, especially considering that on
the one hand Emilia-Romagna is a territory deeply urbanized with difficulties in building new infrastructures due to
the lack of free land, and on the other hand it is possible
to develop different airports together.
Airports traffic is deemed to be of high importance for both
the regional system and the airport management, therefore
a further step of the analysis already available is planned
beyond airLED in response to the idea and concept
emerged during the project: passenger flows will be analysed more in depth with a focus on origin/destination of
the displacement, modal choice, reasons for the displacement, frequency and stay-over duration in order to assess
the capability of the regional offer system to meet with the
visitors’ needs. Also, the regional traffic model will be improved by adding the Trans-Tool application, an analysis
software model made available by the European Union.
Airport System
Development of Emilia
-Romagna Region
Emilia-Romagna region is located in north-east Italy as a
strategic node for national mobility of people and goods,
thus playing a crucial role and function in the Italian economic and infrastructure system. The regional airport system consists of four main transport nodes: Bologna (main
airport), Forlì, Parma and Rimini in addition to other minor
infrastructures.
The regional (and National) transport system has Bologna
as its main node. It represents a strategic portal for the
accessibility of the Emilia-Romagna regional economic
system, thanks to its central geographic location within
the region. The important transport infrastructures ensure
good and wide road and rail connectivity, suitable for the
businesses gravitating within this area. The growth trend
in passenger traffic at Bologna Airport is reaching 6 million
passengers/year, an excellent trend if compared to the
national trend which is suffering a general decrease (with
reference to the ACI classification).
The efforts of Emilia-Romagna Region are aimed at
achieving a coordinated regional airport system playing
a coordinative role in supporting the growth of regional
air traffic. In addition the Region actively promote every
possible co-operation between regional and local airports
and their surrounding areas, avoiding harmful competition
from nodes of the same territories.
Suggestions and results of the airled project will be considered in the new coming Regional Integrated Transport
Plan (PRIT). Generally, new mutual attitude between airports and territory will be encouraged: in particular it has
been proved that Emilia Romagna area is a stable market
from the air traffic point of view as tourism and in general
the low-cost generation traffic, completes and integrates
the relevant share of business related traffic. This traffic
has made possible an increasing trend possible notwithstanding the economic crisis at global level.
The other airport infrastructures in the region are to be
considered local, and therefore more sensible to the
changes of the economy and market. Although they are
small they benefit from important assets, including the accessibility, thanks to the location of the corridor of the Via
Emilia, part of EU corridor 1 and to be considered as one
of the area better linked in northern Italy.
A shared and synergic cooperation network will also be
encouraged involving Fair and the regional promotional offices system, to enhance the regional potential even more.
A core role is played in this field by the Regional Agency
for tourism, profiting also in the next future from the opportunities promised by the Universal Exposition to be held in
Milan in 2015 and the current creation of an agrifood pole
and stable fair for food (FICO) in Bologna in the next years.
The relationship between air traffic growth and the negative
externalities especially related to the resident population is
deemed to be a crucial aspect. Considering the very limited
distance of the airports from the city center of the Emilia-Romagna cities, important efforts have to be made to find solutions
and to ensure a reduction of negative impacts and to create a
positive and constructive discussion among policy makers, the
population and transport infrastructure managers.
Regarding the freight traffic, Bologna hosts an intermodal hub
(Bologna Interporto) which includes freight integrators and air
cargo entities. Being in a central position at the national level at
the junction of two of the most important motorways and railway
corridors (also at EU level) linking the north to the south, the intermodal platform is well developed.
During the airLED RCDB meetings held in Bologna, also intermodal operators were involved, allowing the Emilia Romagna
Region to acquire knowledge on the air cargo phenomenon: excluding the parcel sector, in the hands of specific players with a
time sensitive supply chain (UPS, DHL, TNT and others which
depart from the Bologna airport daily with dedicated air cargo)
most of the air freight traffic departing from Italian airports is actu-
ally performed by road towards the main European airport hubs,
as volumes are not sufficient to justify a scheduled cargo flight;
this freight undergoes all the security and customs controls typical of air freight traffic but the trip is done by road on dedicated
and secured trucks. Many and various are the reasons behind
the presence of this “avio-truck” phenomena as the lack of warehouse inside the airports as well as the longer times foreseen to
have infrastructure enhancements, higher fees to be paid if inside
the airport, the change during the years of plane models for the
regional flights (not sufficient to receive also cargo in the hold
luggage) or the timing from land to take off asked by low cost
companies (not sufficient to load/unload cargo).
Airports are becoming technologically linked to their territories,
not only due to the goods and passengers they serve but also
through the dissemination of real-time information. Mobile apps
available for smartphones have been developed to make the
passenger experience easier starting from the boarding procedures or entertaining inside the terminal; likewise, airports’
presence on the social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) is
a spreading phenomenon, worth being honored with a tailored
Report by ACI Europe (Digital Report, ACI Europe - 2012). The
presence of each airport of the Regional system on digital media will be encouraged as this is an opportunity to get in touch
with a large amount of people, going beyond the traditional
Important steps need to be made in the near future to better
assess the functioning of the supply chain at the regional level.
To achieve this goal, Customs Authorities and other regional and
national stakeholders will be involved in the enhanced Regional
Roundtable on Freight Traffic in order to discuss and brainstorm
new ideas and opportunities for development.
barriers of the catchment area. Opportunities will be examined
to put digital opportunities with traditional information regarding
the territory into cooperation: conceptual maps, touristic and
fair-related information, Imagineering, timetables of intermodal
opportunities are the best candidates to be implemented in the
next future.
The last topic on which Emilia Romagna Region envisaged opportunities for further development has been the technological
and ITS systems: airports are valuable infrastructures but also
capable to process and host high value added items as well.
Finally, a new webpage with links to the regional airport system,
tourist information, events and fairs, entrepreneurship opportunities as well as the contents and the outcomes of the Airled
project will be developed.
Statistical
decision supporting
model
As part of airLED project a multi-step predictive statistical decision support model was developed. Direct and indirect impact
zones are in the scope of the model according to the previous
Status Quo analysis of the Budapest airport catchment area. All
together 69 districts and towns are the observation units (statistical population) of the cross-sectional database (2011 census).
The observation units are described by socio-economic variables like indicators related to demography, geography, unemployment, transportation, infrastructure and revenue generating
capacity of municipalities and business actors.
the future value of the target variables. In the time-series analysis special airport indicators are involved, like number of arriving
and departing passengers and cargo. In this way it is possible
the inclusion of business activity of the airport in the final prediction. The next step was to rebuild the regression models on the
cross-sectional database using the predicted (derived from the
time-series analysis) values of the explanatory variables. The final
step of modeling process is to use the latest regression models
to predict the future value of the three key target variables. In
parallel with the preparation of the multi-step statistical decision
support model, a model software has been developed too. Using
this software tool it is easy to apply the model in different data
environment.
3D Imagineering Tool
Two project partners were responsible to develop an Imagineering Tool that would help the Airport managers, national, regional and local authorities and stakeholders that are dealing with
regional development to estimate and evaluate the influence of
the airport growth to the regional economy and infrastructure
in the future.
The Imagineering Tool main objectives are:
− to provide partners, national, regional and local authorities in
charge of urban and territorial planning an instrument capable of
taking into account various parameters and information to identify the main drivers in area development and both the existing
and potential relationships between the airport and the territory;
In the scope of prediction there are three key target variable,
namely current revenues of municipality, local tax revenues and
number of employees; all of these are related to municipality of
Budapest district 18. In order to predict these figures the first
step is to build up three different regression models based on the
cross-sectional database. Using regression models it is possible
to explore the relationships among the target variables and the
other indicators. The following step is to calculate (predict) the
future values of the relevant explanatory variables of these regression models by using time-series analysis in order to forecast
− to interpret information gathered by a series of outputs of this
project such as National Status Quo Analyses, Regional Roadmaps for Endorsement, Regional Polycentric Development Plans
and Transnational Strategy;
− to issue partners and authorities information through the use of
the concept of “Imagineering”, that is to say visual images which
represent the information provided and drawn by the application
of this methodology of investigation to the territory;
− to give (through a series of fixed and variable parameters) information on the specific status of the territory involved, its characteristics, vocation and development trends in both present and
forecasted scenario under the shed of the new strategy and development criteria assessed by the project;
− to generate information about the influence of the airports to
the regional development, regional GDP, employment, economy,
tourism and infrastructure development;
− to allow - with simplified software orders – spatial analysis of
the Airports infrastructure and surrounding area;
− to allow visual Imagineering of the potential growth of the particular Airports on the present location;
− to generate the future spatial and infrastructure needs, if the
trends about the growth of the airport traffic will come true;
− to generate the warnings, limitations and milestones related to
the Airport infrastructure and the growth of Airport traffic;
− to generate – in a simple way - sufficient information to the
national, regional and local stakeholders which are involved in
decision making process
- to react in-time and support theAirports growth and the necessary investments in the local/ regional economy and infrastructure.
One Stop Shop
Transnational strategy
One-stop-shop in Central Europe settings aims to
provide a practical platform to boost business and
investment development. It also provides practical
advice on business development or relocation of
any company, industry actor or investor interested
in setting up an operation or expansion in airport
catchment areas. Definition of One-stop-shop within the framework of airLED project:
Transnational strategy provides a strategic framework and
guidance for improved polycentric governance as regards
the airLED thematic pillars. In the recent years, new market
trends such as network and airline consolidation, aggressive market strategies by low cost airlines and subsequently by middle-eastern airlines and airports, crescent level of
competition and cost cutting policies have shocked the system and forced the players to restructure their framework.
It is a point or institution itself where anybody could
get as much information as possiblethat could help
or foster decision making process. It is a point
where business persons can recourse to obtain
advice and support to help them establishing and
expanding their business.
The possibility to develop into an airport city depends from
traffic flows, connectivity, centrality in a target market, reliability and presence of eager economic players but also
on factors such as the nature of economic-fiscal-regulatory
regimes and externalities.
These centres may also issue licenses and permits
needed by businesses to start-up, operate or expand. These centres improve the local business
environment by reducing the number of separate
agencies and offices and business may need to be
visited for advice or to apply for various licenses and
permits. They save public and private time and improve efficiency as a result. One of the most important aims of one-stop-shop is to provide a practical
platform to boost business and investment development. Also to provide practical advice on business development to any company, industry actor
or investor interested in setting up an operation or
expansion in airport catchment areas. In One-stopshop the needs of different target groups should be
considered: local, regional and national planners,
tourists, investors, logistic companies etc.
One stop shop in Slovenia, Gorenjska: In the frame
of the airLED project One-stop-shop was established in Gorenjska region. Municipality Cerklje na
Gorenjskem (where also national Ljubljana airport
is located) provided the human resources and infrastructure for its operation with the purpose to
enhance business and investment development in
the area. Since September 2014 One-stop-shop
has been operating and providing appropriate and
effective information support especially for the potential investors, industry and business actors.
A deep investigation and understanding of the market
trends has deemed necessary, since the traditional views
have been outdone by the high-paced changing of the system. A few topics have been pinpointed as crucial in the
development process: capacity, connectivity, investment
opportunities, marketing and territorial assets.
Capacity, resilience to delays, connectivity/attractivity,
possibility to open new routes are linked to it. To improve
the capacity huge investments and complex processes are
needed, not easy during the crisis
Connectivity, essential for the competitiveness of a territory, it is expected to become a core elements in airports’
business plans. It depends from the Country size and population, GDP and geographical location. Policy makers need
a progress in awareness on this issue and topics such as
capacity, air traffic deregulation, market opportunities, cost
efficiency and common legislation on airport-airline cooperation have to be encouraged.
Airports’ technological link to the local territory is becoming a valuable topic. Airports (and airlines) started to equip
themselves with advanced technologies to better meet
passengers expectations. Smartphone Apps and presence
on social media are making the boarding procedures easier and the passenger experience inside the terminal more
entertaining. The Transnational strategy includes all these
variables in order to guide partners in the development of
integrated regional polycentric development plan.
The airLED partnership
The Local Government of Budapest District 18, Pestszentlőrinc-Pestszentimre, HU
Municipality of Vecsés Town, HU
KTI - Institute for Transport Sciences Non Profit Ltd., HU
Mazovia Voivodeship, PL
Institute of Urban Development, PL
Municipality Cerklje in Gorenjska Region, SL
Business Support Centre Ltd. Kranj, SL
Emilia-Romagna Region, IT
Institute for Transport and Logistics Foundation, IT
This project is implemented through the CENTRAL EUROPE Programme co-financed by the ERDF
For further information please visit www.airled.eu
[email protected]