Landside | Airside: Why Airports Are the Way They Are

304 Pages·2019·5.01 MB·English

by  Victor Marquez

Victor Marquez
LANDSIDE
Why airports are the way they are
AIRSIDE
Landside | Airside
Victor Marquez
Landside | Airside
Why Airports Are the Way They Are
Victor Marquez
Mexico City, Mexico
ISBN 978-981-13-3361-3 ISBN 978-981-13-3362-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3362-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018965780
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To my mother
and
In memory of Hans Meyer +
Preface: Current Definitions
of the Landside and Airside
The Collins English Dictionary (“Landside, Airside,” 2003) defines the
terms “landside” and “airside” succinctly: “Landside” (noun) is the part
of an airport farthest from the aircraft, the boundary of which is the
security check, customs, passport control, and so forth; “Airside,” on the
contrary, is the part of an airport nearest the aircraft, the boundary of
which is the security check, customs, passport control, and so on. Both
definitions help to show that only an austere idea exists of what these
terms mean, and that little research has been done to define them more
accurately. In the general civil engineering and architecture lexicon,
airside represents buildings and facilities on the side of the planes, and
landside refers to the same but on the side of passengers, a definition
similar to the one mentioned above. For the more specialized jargon of
airport designers, engineers, and specialists, airports should be divided
into two control sectors: the landside, referring to all areas allowing the
free flow of passengers, visitors, and vehicles; the airside, areas restricted
vii
viii Preface: Current Definitions of the Landside and Airside
for the sole use of authorized personnel, aircrafts, and service vehicles.1
However, in terms of airport planning, security, and regulatory codes,
the landside–airside boundary represents the different frontiers between
the “sterile” and the “non-sterile” zones, a through area where passengers
move along “filters” in order to be “cleared” and “segregated.”
Mexico City, Mexico Victor Marquez
Reference
Evans, G. (2006). Airport engineering: New Denver Airport, Colorado. New York,
NY: McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology.
1 Facilities at airports are generally described as either airside, which commences at the secured
boundary between terminal and apron and extends to the runway and to facilities beyond, such
as navigational or remote air-traffic-control emplacements; or landside, which includes the termi-
nal, cargo-processing, and land-vehicle approach facilities (Evans, 2006).
Acknowledgements
Any intent to produce serious writing requires the inspiration, intelli-
gence, and long dedication of its author; however, authorship requires
meeting at least two conditions: first, the humility to acknowledge that
we only interpret from the experience and lives of others and that it is
only because others have produced knowledge before us that we can
see further; second, that within the darkness of that accumulated sea of
thoughts, letters, and images, it is only through the guidance of others
that we may find the path toward what we seek. Hence, what we put on
paper, as individuals, will always remain in time as a collective effort.
This book is precisely that, a collection of ideas of many talented people.
Nonetheless, I should acknowledge many friends and colleagues in
particular. I first thank Peter McCleary—my intellectual guide in the
second half of my life and a teacher who introduced me to the deepness
of the philosophy of technology. Without that first impulse, what came
next was near to unthinkable.
Very specially, for his patience and intellectual generosity I shall
thank Dr. Ron Kline, who became my mentor after we crossed words in
2005. This work would not have been possible without the long hours
Ron devoted to marking up the manuscript and the several extra hours
ix
x Acknowledgements
he gave advising me in his office, a café, or anywhere else we met in
the world. Furthermore, I owe him because through the years he has
showed me a new way of thinking: Relativism. Likewise, I show my
gratitude to Dr. Trevor Pinch, Dr. Mike Lynch, and Dr. Phoebe Sengers
from Cornell University for their invaluable contributions and advisory
to build this book.
Much of the core material that set out the basis for my argument
came directly from those who, with their talent and determination,
established the profession of airport planning. I cannot describe how
thankful I am to the legendary Marge Brink Coridan, Gene Lewis,
Alistair Sherret, and Bill Dunlay for answering my questions and, along
the way, passing on to me their vibrant enthusiasm for airports. I espe-
cially thank my friend Alceste Venturini for opening the doors of Jacobs
Consultancy and its literature, truly an invaluable gesture. But the fur-
ther back I went in history, oral histories were silenced by the inexorable
pass of time. Thus, I needed the valuable assistance of those who order
and classify knowledge. I appreciate the help I received from Douglas Di
Carlo at La Guardia and Wagner Archives in Long Island City, Cynthia
Ostroff at the Manuscripts and Archives at Yale University Library,
Rodney Kite-Powel at the Tampa Bay History Center, Clarice Reardon
at the Hillsborough County Library, Christine Peers and Jenifer Peals at
the Tampa Historical Society, Dr. Robert Kerstein at the University of
Tampa, Dr. Gary Mormino at USF St. Petersburg, and the staff at the
National Archives II in Maryland, the New York Public Library, and the
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University.
In this work, I often echo the voices and work of others, and they
deserve much of the credit for this book. I kindly thank those authors
who lavishly shared thoughts about this work or discussed with me topics
related to airport history such as Dr. Deborah Douglas—an inspirational
model for this book, Dr. Marc Dierikx, Dr. Peter Lyth, Dr. Joe Corn,
Dr. Nathalie Roseau, and Dr. Gordon Pririe. I also thank my colleagues
Angeles Miranda, Graciela Torre, Jean-Philippe Percheron, Emilio Gil,
and Jorge Sarralle for those long discussions in the practice of airport
planning and design: We were in fact, from the professional trenches,
chasing the meaning of what a landside–airside boundary might be. We
still are.
Acknowledgements xi
Any book is also a collection of words, which must be carefully
placed and hierarchized in order to transmit ideas and thoughts. Thus,
I owe much of the structure and readability, coherence and style of this
text to some generous friends, teachers, and editors who directly or
indirectly have contributed to this work. I thank Dr. Keith Hjortshoj
because he showed me the power of poetry, narrative, and style. I also
deeply thank my lifelong friend Sabrina Spannagel at the University of
Washington for her advice on the first chapters of this piece. Perhaps
the biggest practical input came from my style editor, Kristen Ebert-
Wagner, who shoulder to shoulder discussed with me each idea and par-
agraph, until it reached its final shape. I have been privileged to learn
from all of them. Finally, I sincerely appreciate the patience and support
of Joshua Pitt and everyone at Palgrave Macmillan in London, without
them this work would never have reached the print.