Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

On October 3, the city of Brussels is due to host the event  Cities and Metropolitan Airport Areas: Looking for New Approaches.

The aim of the conference is to present the results of METROAirports, a project co-funded by Metropolis, the world association of metropolitan areas, and led by the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), in cooperation with the metropolitan areas of Île-de-France (Paris) and Atlanta, and the Airport Regions Conference (ARC).

The event will include a series of presentations and discussion panels. They firstly will address the role of international airports and the way local and regional governments interact with them in aspects such as governance, economy, mobility, environmental impact, etc. Afterwards, a round table discussion will be held to present, on the one hand, a study on sustainable airport areas by the metropolitan area of Île-de-France (Paris) and, on the other, an AMB's study on planning, governance and economic development in airport areas.

Lastly, representatives from the European Commission will outline Europe's approach to this issue. Afterwards, they will open up the floor for discussion with the participants.

The presentation in Brussels has been organised by the Airport Regions Conference (ARC), the AMB, the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Île-de-France Institute for Urban Planning and Development and Metropolis.

The METROAirports project

The main objective of METROAirports is to understand and improve the design and implementation of metropolitan policies with a socioeconomic impact, and urban planning policies linked to airport facilities. Work has revolved around the role of airports in metropolitan planning and the economic and social impact of airports in metropolitan regions, such as the creation of new jobs, economic activity, mobility, access to housing, security and the relationship with the activity of airports, etc.

As part of the METROAirports project, a series of meetings and study visits have been undertaken in the three participating metropolitan areas to analyse how airport areas are used and how they are linked to the processes of land-use planning in the metropolises.

The project has resulted in a publication on the Barcelona, Paris and Atlanta airports, and the lessons learned with regard to planning, governance and economic development in airport areas.

Main conclusions

The main conclusions that can be drawn from this project are: the need for integrated land-use planning in airport areas to facilitate the coordination of infrastructure planning; to build a shared vision for the long-term development of airport areas and encourage strategic alignment and cooperation among local actors; to improve public transport and access to the workplaces at the airport; to promote connectivity between neighbouring cities and towns and the airport area; to provide a public transportation system that links the residential and business areas to the airport areas, making access easier for people who live close to the airport, generating job opportunities and promoting the creation of associations which bring together the majority of the local actors from the airport area to ensure the promotion of a constructive dialogue so that a shared vision for the airport area may be built.