The airport as edge city : the case of Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport

International audienceMost of the recent research about airports has considered them in their role as points within airline networks,and the focus has been generally on hub airports. But airports are also places offering many similarities with cities, particularly with edge cities. They are places of human diversity and job centers for surrounding areas. Traffic jams are common on ground facilities as they are on taxiways, runways and airways. Often divided in specialized districts, such as cargo warehousing, hotel rows, rental car parking lots or office clusters, they are also urban organisms exerting strong demands on the local environment. In the post 9-11era, their importance for economic activities and their high visibility make them ideal targets for terrorism, because the flow of visitors cannot be entirely controlled This paper will present the way the administrators of a major international airport deal with these urban characteristics, with a special focus on the management of ground traffic around and inside CDG airport's limits