Airport neighborhoods
 

Anyone that has flown somewhere has been in the neighborhood that the airport is in. These are our first glimpses of a city when we arrive, for better or worse. Many airports are within city limits, and many airports have somewhat regular neighborhoods surrounding them. Some neighborhoods truly function as areas to serve the economic needs of an airport, with dozens of hotels and other related businesses; other neighborhoods look like other neighborhoods around the city, perhaps being primarily residential, but just happen to be next to the airport.

There are notable examples in the United States and the world: Westchester in Los Angeles (LAX), Eastwick in Philadelphia (PHL), East Elmhurst in Queens (LGA), Jeffries Point in Boston (BOS), Carver City/Lincoln Gardens in Tampa (TPA), the Toronto Islands in Toronto (YTZ), Longford in London (LHR), and so on.


What airport neighborhoods have the best built environments, whether master-planned or organic?

What airport neighborhoods have the best architecture?

What are the best neighborhoods that truly serve the economy of the airport? What are the best neighborhoods that just happen to be next to an airport?

few US airports are nestled as tightly into a dense bungalow-belt style residential neighborhood as chicago's Midway airport.

MDW is the 2nd oldest major airport in the US (after MSP), and back when it was founded in 1923, it was on the outskirts of the city, but as the city expanded outward, the neighborhood grew up around it, cheek by jowl.

the FAA would never allow such a tight arrangement for a new-build airport today.

https://live.staticflickr.com/4562/3...1e979827_b.jpg
Chicago Midway Airport - 2017 by Midway Airport (Pat B.), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/3391/3...93154ef0_b.jpg
Chicago Midway Airport MDW by Ron Reiring, on Flickr

Thats the truth San Diego, Phoenix and others are in a years long battle with the FAA over height restrictions that they attempt to put on buildings miles from the airport

Flying into Midway for the first time can be terrifying, especially on a hot summers day with thunderstorms brewing and unpredictable crosswinds. Feels like you are right overhead of rooftops. I've done it many times on a Dash 8 which probably gets knocked around more but also has much more leeway in landing distance than Southwest's 737s.

Houston Hobby (HOU) opened in 1927 and at the time out was in the middle of nowhere (Houston only had 292,000 people by the 1930 census) and Houston quickly grew up around it but is in the middle of town now.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.6447.../data=!3m1!1e3

In San Diego our "airport neighborhood" is downtown, which has to win some sort of award.

https://www.portofsandiego.org/sites...?itok=SMC2yiZ9

Looking at Hobby Airport, two things jump out at me...

One, look at that little neighborhood around Sandgate Road due west of the airport. At first glace, it appears to actually be on airport property until you look closer.

Two, the neighborhood due south of the airport is called Skyscraper Shadows, which sounds like it should be the title of a racy SSP soap opera.

Meanwhile, Midway Airport in Chicago looks like something out of a SimCity game.

(For what it's worth, by the way, Hobby and Midway are both getting direct flights to Asheville starting in May, along with Boston and Austin.)

Boston Logan and San Jose would be up for the same award. They might not win, but they'd be nominated.

While the neighborhood that surrounds Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport isn't anything to get excited about, there is an interesting remnant of the neighborhood that was there before they built the airport...

See those two rectangles side by side? Those are the graves of Catherine Dotson who died in 1877, and her husband Richard Dotson who died in 1884. The Dotson family property, including a large family and slave cemetery, was purchased in the 1940's and the airport, which had first started operations in 1929, was expanded onto the land.

I'm surprised Spirit Airlines doesn't fly into Savannah.

:whistle:

Westchester is a middle class (upper?) with a decent walkable commercial district . Its mostly residential but its starting to add in those 5-7 story mixed use buildings on the commercial streets, like almost every other LA neighborhood. El Sequndo's village is right next to LAX too.

Burbank/North Hollywood is LA's answer to Chicago's midway areas.

You can walk out of Bob Hope right into the neighborood. It's kinda of nuts.

I just checked to see if they do, but unfortunately... they don't.

I never notice that neighborhood. If you are a plane nerd, that's the place to live. My wife need to get back to Asheville. We were there last winter. Went to the Biltmore and it was full so kept on driving.

They've started doing timed tickets to handle the crowds. Plan ahead and you'll be fine...

And for heaven's sake fly into Asheville Regional. It's a nice, efficient little airport whose passenger total finally topped a million per year in 2018. Just don't expect the neighborhood outside the airport, a smear of generic sprawl, to thrill you much.

(Edit: Speaking of the neighborhood right around the airport here, it includes the Western Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, where you can send any animals you find dead on your property for necropsies. The neighborhood also includes the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center, which is where they hold the Mountain State Fair, which was the epicenter of a lethal Legionnaire's Disease outbreak last year, and to top it off, the Sierra Nevada brewery is right there too. You can't go wrong!)

I live in the Stapleton neighborhood of Denver, that used to be an airport. Does that count?:D

DIA is/was in the middle of nowhere, but they keep building neighborhoods closer and closer to it.

There's housing right outside Hobby. Other than the noise, it makes me wish I lived there so the airport was a hop skip and jump away.

Surfridge, a once thriving idyllic beachfront community:

https://goo.gl/maps/wExYZ79W3NBDdbdY7
https://goo.gl/maps/43C3zuGtxmbq9HdQA

Wish they would do something with that land, even if people can't live there anymore. The whole area is just fenced off and left to rot.

Stapleton looks like sweet, sweet New Urbanist yumminess.

Playa Del Ray (LAX) is probably my favorite "airport neighborhood" by far, if we are counting any neighborhood/municipality that touches an airport. Its usually the first place I go when I land in LA.

just close your face when delta flights go over.

Coming into Midway is pretty crazy, feels like you could almost jump out of the plane and onto someone's roof.

Living in one of those houses must suck though.