A theoretical foundation for investigating the spatial economic attributes of airport-centric developments

Mokhele Masilonyane () and Geyer Hermanus S. ()
Additional contact information
Mokhele Masilonyane: Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Cape Town8000, South Africa
Geyer Hermanus S.: Stellenbosch University, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Centre for Regional and Urban Innovation and Statistical Exploration (CRUISE), Matieland, 7602, South Africa

Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, 2021, vol. 54, issue 54, 21-31

Abstract: Among the various areas of interest on the topic of airports and the geographical distribution of land use, one pertinent theme is the spatial economic analysis of airports and their environs. However, the existing literature predominantly focuses on describing the land-use composition of airport-centric developments, without unpacking the spatial economic forces at play. This gap brings to the fore the need to employ an appropriate theoretical lens to guide the spatial economic analysis of airports and their environs. The aim of this theoretical review paper is thus to identify concepts that are relevant to the analysis of airports and their environs; and to use those concepts to systematically identify the existing theory that is most suitable for investigating the spatial economic forces that drive airport-centric developments. Against the background of globalisation, we scrutinise classical location theories, regional science, growth pole theory and new economic geography against their relational interpretations of the concepts of space, proximity, firm, scale and pattern. Given that it portrays a relational perspective of the aforesaid concepts, the paper concludes that growth pole theory is suitable as the main framework for analysing airport-centric developments. It is therefore recommended that growth pole theory be empirically used to guide the analysis of airports and their environs, and subsequently be used as the basis for developing a theoretical framework tailored for airport-centric developments.

Keywords: airport-centric development; growth pole theory; concepts; spatial economic analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.2478/bog-2021-0030 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vrs:buogeo:v:54:y:2021:i:54:p:21-31:n:7

DOI: 10.2478/bog-2021-0030

Access Statistics for this article

Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series is currently edited by Daniela Szymańska

More articles in Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series from Sciendo
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().