Spatial economic attributes of O.R. Tambo and Cape Town airport-centric developments in South Africa

Abstract

Background: The concentration of development around airports is a topical subject on the relationship between transportation, accessibility and the distribution of land use. Notwithstanding the existing literature on the analysis of airports and surrounds, and normative models of airport-led development, extensions are required on the empirical analysis of spatial economic attributes of airports and surrounds.Objectives: Objectives of the article were twofold: firstly, to establish the economic activity mix and reasons for the location of firms on and around O.R. Tambo and Cape Town international airports; and secondly, to analyse linkages between firms on and around the two airports as well as linkages those firms have with their metropolitan, regional, national and international contexts.Method: The article focused on the South African case studies of O.R. Tambo and Cape Town international airports and used a telephone survey as the primary data collection method.Results: The article discovered that the developments around O.R. Tambo and Cape Town international airports are spatial clusters that are also linked with other airports in South Africa and beyond.Conclusion: The article extended existing knowledge by providing insights on the spatial economic characteristics of airports and surrounds. The findings can be improved upon with work on other case studies, and potentially be used as bases for extending a theoretical framework that describes and explains the spatial economic forces that drive development on and around airports.

Towards the operationalization of a spatial economic theory for airport‐centric developments

“…As noted above, the empirical investigations focused on the airport‐centric development case studies of OR Tambo and Cape Town international airports. OR Tambo International Airport, the busiest South African airport in terms of the volume of airfreight and passengers handled, is located in Ekurhuleni municipality, Gauteng province; and Cape Town International Airport, the second busiest, is located in the City of Cape municipality, Western Cape province (see Mokhele, ). The two airports were considered appropriate for investigating forces that drive airport‐centric developments mainly because, compared to other airports in South Africa, they accommodate substantial and diverse concentrations of economic activity.…”

“…Furthermore, because of the linkages with each other and with airport‐centric firms elsewhere in South Africa and beyond, the two airport‐centric developments are potentially components of an import or export organizational cluster of airport‐centric developments. Various elements of that organizational cluster are part of the same economic space, regardless of their distinct geographical locations (see Mokhele, ). The foregoing findings were accordingly used to develop the theoretical framework for airport‐centric developments below.…”

“…Further work is required on a variety of case studies to test, improve and elaborate on the work here proposed. It should be noted that the work presented herein is a climax of a series of manuscripts and papers, including the following: evolution of the airport‐centric developments of OR Tambo and Cape Town airports (Mokhele, ); spatial economic attributes of the airport‐centric developments of OR Tambo and Cape Town airports (Mokhele, ), and a manuscript on the theoretical framework for airport‐centric developments of OR Tambo and Cape Town airports (Mokhele & Geyer, accepted for publication). The paper builds upon the aforementioned work and focuses particularly on the potential use of the theoretical framework.…”

“…To avoid being enmeshed in the hype of airport city, aerotropolis or other normative models of airport‐led development, it is important to note that the paper uses a fairly neutral term of airport‐centric development to refer to a collection of airport‐centric firms. These are firms that are located at the following areas: one, around the airport, that is, at areas that are geographically proximate to the airport (and contiguous with that airport), but outside the airport land; two, on the landside, that is, on the airport's land; and three, within the airport's terminals (see Mokhele, , ).…”

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

“…As such, due to their centrifugal and centripetal effects, airports could also be analysed as transshipment locational constants that attract related and unrelated firms. In light of the findings of the paper, it is recommended that growth pole theory, underpinned by the concepts explored herein, be empirically used in the analysis of airport-centric developments (this would extend the work of, inter alios, Mokhele, 2018), and subsequently be used as the basis for developing a theoretical framework that is tailored for airport-centric developments (Mokhele and Geyer, 2018 took a stab at this).…”