In advance of another event related to Greg Lindsay and John Kasarda’s recently-published Aerotropolis, Andrew Blum asked twitter for questions for Lindsay. I responded with the central point from my previous post on Aerotropolis:
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ajblum Good chatter about tonight’s Aerotropolis event so I’ll put it out there: Any questions from the cloud*? (*Not actually a cloud.) -
eatingbark @ajblum Yes. Lindsay says: “The notion of the aerotropolis is basically that air travel is what globalization looks like in urban form”. -
eatingbark @ajblum Seems to me that the “aerotropolis” is more a symbol of globalization than it is globalization crystallized. That would be ports.
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eatingbark @ajblum Much longer version here: http://m.ammoth.us/blog/2011/03/aerotropolis/.
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Since Lindsay was good enough to reply several times, I’ve archived that conversation here (after the jump) for anyone interested in reading Lindsay’s response.
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Greg_Lindsay @eatingbark @ajblum I disagree; ports don’t move human capital, which is the highest value commodity in the developed world. -
Greg_Lindsay @eatingbark @ajblum A more nuanced answer would be: ports vs. airports vs. broadband reflects a sort of Maslow’s hierarchy of globalization.
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Greg_Lindsay @eatingbark @ajblum Ports for low value economies; airports for high-value ones, and Internet nodes for the financiers running the show.
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eatingbark @greg_lindsay @ajblum Describing it as a Maslow’s hierarchy hardly makes the point that “the aerotropolis is what globalization looks like”.
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eatingbark @greg_lindsay @ajblum …as the lower layers of the Maslow pyramid are more basic than (and take precedence over) the upper.
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eatingbark @greg_lindsay @ajblum Analogy aside, my more basic point was that most people don’t participate directly in these “high-value” economies.
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eatingbark @greg_lindsay @ajblum What globalization looks like by preponderance of land, material, and people much different than by capital.
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eatingbark @greg_lindsay @ajblum But thanks for response. Can probably agree that it is not either airport or seaport (or net), but all-and-more.
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ajblum Was just about to say that. @eatingbark Can probably agree that it is not either airport or seaport (or net), but all-and-more.
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Greg_Lindsay @eatingbark @ajblum I’m w/ David Harvey on this one: capital creates “spatial fixes” that impose its logic on people and landscapes.
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Greg_Lindsay @eatingbark @ajblum The aerotropolis is the spatial fix of just-in-time global capitalism, much more so than ports. Anyway…
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eatingbark @greg_lindsay @ajblum I think that’s true. I just want us to remember that (in @stphnbckr’s words) the globalized world is still very heavy.
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eatingbark @greg_lindsay @ajblum Or, that there is a lot more matter in “low-value” economies than in “high-value” economies.
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eatingbark @greg_lindsay @ajblum Or, that just-in-time can often be weeks, not days. I’ll stop rambling now…
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Though the event in question has now concluded, Lindsay remains on tour promoting his book. A full schedule of stops, including upcoming events in Chicago, New York, Denver, and DC, can be found here.
