urban geography; airports; London; transport geography
Abstract :
[en] Whilst often taken for granted, transport flows, airspace and urbanisation at ‘ground level’ are deeply intertwined. This dissertation situates London’s current controversy regarding airport expansion and aircraft noise and within new understandings of urbanisation and the role of transport flows within the urban realm, analysing the contested spatial relations stretched across the three-dimensional terrain, where the urban-rural, global-local and public- private spatial divisions are polarised by the negotiation of aircraft noise. Drawing from empirical evidence related to existing noise pollution issues and the expansion of aviation infrastructure in the South East, this text interprets airspace as part of the transformation and extension of the urban fabric above the built environment of the urban region, comparable to peri-urban extension and dispersal of the urban across the earth’s surface. This study draws from empirical qualitative evidence of London Heathrow Airport, Gatwick Airport, and the local places which experience noise pollution emanating from the various, changing flight paths to and from these airports within and surrounding London’s urban boundary. Theorised in this text as the relational, interscalar urban-airport interface, the constructivist approach employed here focuses on the constellation of public and private institutions and actors who co-constitute this interface and manage aircraft noise in the context of on-going airspace modernisation, the intensification of aircraft activity and pending airport expansion.
Disciplines :
Human geography & demography
Author, co-author :
MCDONOUGH, Evan ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) > Identités, Politiques, Sociétés, Espaces (IPSE)
Language :
English
Title :
Global flows, local conflicts and the challenge of urban governance: Managing the urban-airport interface in London and the South East of England
Defense date :
2018
Institution :
Unilu - University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg