The Aerotropolis & Monumentism

Two of the fascinating architectural trends we have featured on PSFK this year have been Aerotropolis - a city designed around an airport - and Monumentism - the rise of bold, striking buildings in our city landscape. The New York Times Magazine has picked up these ideas and published them in their Ideas for 2006 special edition.

On Aerotropolis, Stepehn Mihm for the Times fails to see the bigger picture and just sees airports as they currently are:

In September, Bangkok witnessed the opening of the Suvarnabhumi Airport, which when finally completed will include virtually all the components of a major metropolis: shopping malls, office buildings, hotels, hospitals, an international business center, conference and exhibition spaces, warehouses and even a residential community. Traditionally, of course, airports have served cities, but in the past few years airports have started to become cities unto themselves, giving rise to a new urban form: the aerotropolis.

In terms of Monumentism, the NY Times writes about ‘Big Urbanism’:

Cities are once again planning with grandiosity. This year witnessed the return of what you might call big urbanism, with large-scale redevelopment projects sprouting nationwide. In the summer, the New York City Planning Commission approved the controversial $4.2 billion, 22-acre Atlantic Yards project, which only a few years prior was widely dismissed as impossibly overscaled… These projects represent a new confidence among designers, as well as developers and public officials, in reshaping the American city.

NYT: The Aerotropolis
NYT: Big Urbanism