Investigating Neighborhood Change in Airport-Adjacent Communities in Multiairport Regions, 1970-2010

This research generated new knowledge in the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of airport-adjacent communities to better understand patterns of exposure to the negative externalities of hub airports over time. The research asked the following question: How has the population of historically marginalized groups living near airports changed with the rise of the jet age? The spatial analysis and descriptive statistics showed that airport-adjacent communities in multiairport regions generally have increased numbers of persons of color and increased numbers of renters compared with their respective metropolitan regions. In addition, the communities often underperform socioeconomically with respect to their region. The study also tested three theories from the literature to explain the relationship between airport infrastructure and the airport's surrounding communities: the power to resist effect, the push-pull locally unwanted land use effect, and the airport-centric activity center effect.