Airport Urbanism

Max Hirsh is a research assistant professor at the Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong.

• ContentsPrefaceIntroduction: What Is Airport Urbanism?1. Parallel Lines2. Transborder Infrastructure3. Special Zones4. Cheap TicketsConclusion: Mobility, Migration, and the Future Asian CityAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

"Airport Urbanism dissects issues in infrastructural design and aesthetics, physical mobility and social immobility, and the lived experiences of an emerging Asian urbanism-a remarkable achievement by a scholar who possesses the intellectual virtuosity to bridge realms in every direction."-Helen F. Siu, Yale University"Lucid and entertaining, Max Hirsh’s account of airport infrastructure shatters the fiction of showpiece airports as the acme of international air travel. This highly perceptive reading of cross-border mobility and its role in shaping the urban landscape in Asia is a critical contribution to the emerging scholarship on infrastructure."-Swati Chattopadhyay, University of California, Santa Barbara"A fascinating examination of the many elements, and the countless ways in which societies have grown an infrastructure of air travel parallel to any intended arrangements, and well outside any comprehensive plans."-Urban Land Magazine"A fascinating, well-documented story of a world in transition."-CHOICE"Airport Urbanism’s perceptive and extensive empirical analysis will certainly be of value not only to scholars of East and Southeast Asian cities but also to those who intervene directly in their planning and development."-Urban Studies"Airport Urbanism offers an innovative (re)reading of contemporary cities through the lens of the airport." -Pacific Affairs