There is something increasingly disturbing about airports. They combine the spatial characteristics of bus stops, fast food outlets and warehouses . The key to their design has always been about control and directed movement to a specific location at a specific time. A key factor being distance due to the pragmatic separation of plane docking.
Obviously space is at a premium but the actual scale is vast. How this space is punctuated or marked depends on the financial resources of airlines and franchises to mark these spatial territories. The trend is to mask this in local aggregations such as upscale food courts, overpriced shops and more recently the association of commercial areas and internet access.
Prices in these spaces is then dictated by the degree of passenger imprisonment particularly after security screening. A great example of controlled capital consumer containment, mediated by the desire to move on but stagnated by excessive waiting times.....security has now provided via fear or paranoia the ideal means of capturing consumers. To guard is to hold....to wait is to succumb.
Looks very, very, familiar????
