• Holiday Attractions

    How FedEx and UPS Made the Airport an Anti-Factory

    The word “aerotropolis,” coined by UNC business professor John D. Kasarda, means “a new urban form placing airports in the center with cities growing around them, connecting workers, suppliers, executives, and goods to the global marketplace.” Below, in this exclusive TFT excerpt from the new book Aerotropolis: The Way We’ll Live Next, written by journalist Greg Lindsay and Kasarda, we get a peak at how the terribly efficient air-delivery giants FedEx and UPS factor into the model. The midnight skies over the Memphis and Louisville airports are filled with stars bearing down on you. Wait on the tarmac long enough and they gradually come into focus— 727s, 747s, 757s, 767s,…