Contested airport lands in the Global South

With the acceleration of airport construction and expansion in low- and middle-income countries, a multi-disciplinary scholarship that relates infrastructural development to social aviation is unfolding. By shifting the focus to the Global South, the authors of this book reveal colonial trajectories, the role of foreign investment and ownership, and the socioeconomic and environmental dynamics that airports trigger. While visions of economic and social development related to aviation drive greenfield development, airport expansion and the development of airport cities often do not keep this promise. In most cases, megaprojects threaten the livelihoods of those living on airport land. This chapter introduces the concept of ‘airport land’, central to the book, whose chapters highlight land use changes and the socioeconomic dynamics that these changes set in motion. It narrates aviation-led development, development corridors, airport-induced injustice, displacement and compensation, protest movements, and multi-level governance. The authors underline that aviation-induced conflicts in the Global North differ from those in the Global South because land tenure systems differ and because airport development usually affects already-vulnerable populations that do not benefit from airports and increased connectivity. The chapter presents key findings from case studies in countries such as India, Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa, and Kenya.