What happens when downtown airports close – Parks, open spaces and community spaces follow
Updated: Sep 6
Some recent and proposed airport closures around the world.
1. Tempelhof Airport: Tempelhofer Feld, Berlin, closed 2008
Tempelhof’s central location meant flight noise affected vast residential areas, and its short runways couldn’t accommodate modern aircraft. After closure it was transformed and reopened as a community park, garden, and nature reserve in 2010 — now a haven for skateboarders, cyclists, and picnickers who value the vast greenery in a dense city. On an average day around 10,000 Berliners use the space. (Medium, Berlin Beyond Borders)
2. Edmonton City Centre Airport, closed 2013
Redevelopment plans called for a community of approximately 30,000 people – described as a walkable, sustainable, holistic community with a retail sector. This one is Canadian and directly relevant as a precedent. (Global News).
3. Chicago Meigs Field
On the night of March 30, 2003, Daley ordered city crews to make the runway unusable by bulldozing large "X"-shaped gouges into the runway surface in the middle of the night. This resulted in several aircraft being stranded on the ground at the airport; these were later allowed to depart from Meigs' 3,000-foot (910 m) taxiway.
Daley stated during a news conference on March 31, "To do this any other way would have been needlessly contentious." Daley defended his actions by claiming it would save the city of Chicago the effort of further court battles before the airport could close. He also claimed the closure was due to safety concerns, particularly the post-9/11 risk of terrorist-controlled aircraft attacking the downtown waterfront near Meigs Field
Northerly Island is now a park that features prairie grasses, strolling paths and a giant pond. In 2005, the 7,500 seat Huntington Bank Pavilion, which hosts music concerts in the summer, opened on the site. The island also has a modest beach named 12th Street Beach (Wikipedia)
4. Santa Monica Municipal Airport
It has been one of the world's foremost general aviation airports (at one time, the busiest single-runway airport in the world). The airport is scheduled to close on December 31, 2028.
In 2009, with jet traffic increasing at SMO, studies by UCLA and the South Coast Air Quality Management District warned that SMO was a source of abnormally high air pollution in the area, particularly for ultrafine particles that threatened the health of children and the elderly, and those with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. In neighbourhoods downwind of the airport, ultrafine particles were measured at 2.5 to 10 times the normal amount. The FAA attempted remediation by controlling the timing of engine run-ups and positioning of aircraft, but some residents complained that the measures failed to resolve the problem.
In 2017, the FAA agreed to let the city shorten the runway from 4,925 feet (1,501 m) to 3,500 feet (1,100 m) – effectively blocking most jets from using the airport – and allowing the city to completely close the airport by December 31, 2028 (Wikipedia)
5. International Airport Central Park neighbourhood, Denver, closed 1995
The project generated billions in economic impact and employed thousands in high-paying jobs. The land was redeveloped into a thriving urban community of 35,000 residents, now held up as a model for urban redevelopment initiatives. The redevelopment was built on three principles: economic opportunity, environmental responsibility, and social equity. (Denver Urban Renewal Authority – Stapleton Urban Land Institute Case Study)
6. Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland, proposed closure, 2024 study
A current, directly comparable case – downtown waterfront airport with jet service. A city-commissioned report found that redeveloping Burke with mixed uses – hotels, recreation, and open spaces – could generate up to $92 million per year in new economic activity, concluding that closure “would permit investment that would ultimately have greater economic activity than currently occurring” at the airport. (Cleveland Magazine, Sept. 2024)
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