Norway’s Oslo Airport soon won’t be just an airport; it will be a city, too. And some of the inspiration for the concept can be traced to North Carolina.
The Nordic Office of Architecture and Haptic Architects recently unveiled plans for a new Oslo Airport City that will allow travelers to experience all the typical experiences of visiting an airport with the added attraction of driverless cars and smart technology all around them in an urban setting.
Dr. John Kasarda of the Center for Air Commerce at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill published a book about the concept of an “airport city” called Aerotroplis: The Way We’ll Live Next.
“Look for yesterday’s busiest train terminals and you will find today’s great urban centers. Look for today’s busiest airports and you will find the great urban centers of tomorrow,” he wrote.
Olso is leading the way.
The electric driverless cars could take travelers around the airport, and all of the new features will rely on renewable energy, too.
As Curbed reported, the city, which will be 4 million square meters or some 440 million square feet, will be built next to the airport. (For perspective: The SuperDome covers some 270,000 square feet, the Pentagon 6.6 million square feet.)
The government plans to use this airport to test driverless cars to see how they fare in an urban setting.
Kasarda created the term to define airports that include more than just concourses and gates. Kasarda’s thinking also helped lead to the construction of the Global TransPark in Kinston, N.C.
Who is John Kasarda?
John D. Kasarda is considered the leading developer of the aerotropolis concept, which positions airports as 21st century drivers of business location and urban economic growth. His expertise includes aviation infrastructure, logistics, demographics, urban development and commercial real estate issues.
Fast Company captured Dr. Kasarda’s passion for the aerotropolis, which in turn led to writing the new book Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next. Read more about his research at www.aerotropolis.com.
Dr. Kasarda served as director of the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise for 22 years. He directs the Kenan Institute’s Center for Air Commerce.
Source: UNC
Tomas Stokke, the director of the architecture firm, told Travel + Leisure, that this airport city will be different than others around the world in that it will feel more like an actual city.
“What you normally have with airport cities is some type of business park where you’ll mainly find logistic buildings, but what we’re doing is creating an airport city with urban qualities that include streets, squares and walkable spaces not blocked off by cars in addition to building on the various sport and leisure qualities Norwegians are quite into,” he said.
The airport will also add 22,000 to 40,000 jobs by 2050.
However, don’t expect the airport anytime soon. As Curbed reported, the Olso development will need 30 years of construction that will begin in 2019 or 2020.
“This is a unique opportunity to design a new city from scratch,” director of Haptic Architects Tomas Stokke said in a statement. “Using robust city planning strategies such as walkability, appropriate densities, active frontages and a car free city centre, combined with the latest developments in technology, we will be able to create a green, sustainable city of the future.”
