Since the emergence of urban systems, cities have developed in a mutually inter-dependent process of socio-economic dynamics and transportation linkages. In recent years, Airports worldwide have stepped beyond the stage of being pure infrastructure facilities while the complex dynamics that are taking place at and around international airports represent a crucial element in the post-industrial reorganisation of urban and regional systems. Airports are increasingly recognized as general urban activity centres; that is, key assets for cities and regions as economic generators and catalysts of investment in addition to being critical components of efficient city infrastructure.

Part I 1. Systems of Airports Within City Regions 2. The spatial distribution of airport-related economic activity: Where are the jobs? 3. The Air Transport System of United Arab Emirates During the Global Financial Crisis and Arab Spring 4. Amsterdam Mainport and Metropolitan Region. Connectivity and urban development 5. Airports and their regions: a reciprocal affair of spatial conflicts and economic development 6. From Sprawl to City? A Vision for Sustainable Airport Regions Part II 7. Airports and the knowledge economy. A relational perspective 8. Where globality encounters locality: Emergence of new knowledge-based spaces around the German airports of Frankfurt, Munich and Dusseldorf 9. From inside-out to outside-in: Changing spatial-economic geography and planning in the Amsterdam-Schiphol region Part III 10. The Promise and Challenge of Brownfield Aerotropolises 11. The Rise of the Airport Property Market in Australia 12. Driving factors of Airport City developments. An international comparison 13. Towards an Effect-Based Model for Airports and Cities 14. Airport, Cities and the Globe

Sven Conventz is Research Associate at the Chair for Territorial and Spatial Development at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany.

Alain Thierstein is Full Professor for Spatial and Territorial Development at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Department of Architecture, Germany, and Senior Consultant and Partner with Ernst Basler Partners Ltd., Zurich, Switzerland.