Can an Airport Drive an Economy?

Writer Karrie Jacobs reviews "Aerotropolis: The Way We'll Live Next" by Greg Lindsay.

"For a supposed view of the "way we'll live next," there's not a whole lot of actual living. Instead, the book is a build-out of a consultant's formula for competitiveness. And in that way, it's not very different from Richard Florida's books, but because it's not actually written by the consultant himself (no matter what it says on the jacket), it lacks evangelical zeal. Yes, we should be spending more money on our infrastructure, including airports. And yes, God, yes, it would be wonderful if someone really thought out those messy agglomerations of commerce that generally surround airports. But the type of thinking that might turn an economic 'weapon,' as Lindsay frames it, into a workable urban place doesn't figure prominently among this book's concerns."