Denver Airport City and Aerotropolis

Overview:

The new Denver International Airport (DEN) opened in 1995 as the largest US public works project of the 21st century. Dr. Kasarda's project contribution began in the early part of this century when he laid out the airport city and Aerotropolis models for the DEN (Denver International Airport) Regional Partnership. These models served as the design blueprints for a number of follow-on studies and master plans for both the DEN Airport City and Denver Aerotropolis.

Dr. Kasarda then served as the principal investigator for the 1,287-acre Porteous development adjacent to the southern fence of DEN. Strategies, designs, and plans were prepared to develop this large property as a key Aerotropolis node, focusing on its potential role as an urban and logistics gateway to DEN. In addition to specifying commercial land uses, recommendations were made for better road access as well as potential rail access. Finally, options were provided for the possibility of a 'through-the-fence' PPP with DEN and the Porteous property owners that would allow cargo aircraft ramp access to the property and its logistics facilities.

Collaborating with MXD, input was provided to develop the Master Plan for Denver Airport City. Inputs were also provided that specified the types of multimodal transportation infrastructure that would leverage these functions at the airport, drawing on comparable airport city and Aerotropolis studies Dr. Kasarda had conducted worldwide.