It is easy to forget that warring states were the norm in Europe, and may be getting back to that state of affairs unless we destroy the planet prior. Commentary for the Winter Olympics this week even touches on the various states competitors are there to represent, describing how one used to belong to Germany or another to Austria... reminding us that borders on the continent were ever based upon shifting sands.
Accordingly most cities in Northern Europe and beyond began as fortified citadels to which everyone could retreat in the event of invasion; and within easy access to the river that was the only reliable means of moving goods in particular. Here then how Munich in Germany began, and a place I choose having frequented both its old and new airports:
At some stage early in the last century, the outskirts ~ which being on a flood-plain were generally flat and grassy ~ became home to a variety of airfields:
To a great extent in Europe in particular these would complement and in many ways as is the case with newer tech, the establishment of railway termini like that which approaches from the west of the town:
Note too that as late as WW2 and beyond, airfields ~ and the clue is in the name ~ comprised a circular field of grass, which was cheaper altogether than infrastructure like terminal buildings and runways and allowed for take-off or landing in whichever direction... seen nonetheless being bombed here for its hangars by US forces during that same conflict:
Eventually though these facilities would include a concrete runway and terminal building, each still relatively quiet when we dropped in back in the early 1980s:
As os of 1992 however in search of a bigger airport and requiring more room for expansion altogether, Munich's airport would be supplanted and the space it once occupied be unrecognisable... having been wholly devoted to construction of a new suburb:
And look where they put the new one? In fact Munich is in some ways the exception in that some cities have seen airports rebuilt successive times beyond what were once the city limits:
Why bring this up now though? Well because the world's largest international airport in the form of DXB or Dubai is running out of room to build more runways in order to accommodate ever more take-off and landing slots; even though the domestic airline boasts a fleet of the very biggest airliners more numerous than any other. Here is how it looked in the early 1990s and note how those runways could, if not be multiplied in number, have been extended into the desert beyond:
But now look. Airports attract people for the business they provide, which leads to them being surrounded by new-builds and no country as yet has had the foresight to reserve land around them at the get-go... which is very much the human MO:
As a consequence the Emirates are relocating the international airport to one they started and got to thinking they would never really need, but it turns out they do now that they figure they could provide 400 gates servicing an annual passenger throughput of over a quarter billion passengers: it is (still) called DWC.
What is interesting is that it ~ along with the US president's declaration on climate change just yesterday ~ it signals the fact that the post-Covid rebound in passenger numbers that has gone way beyond what it ever had been: is here to stay.
Three things strike a chord with that regard, the first that Exxon's own scientists said back in the 1970s that carbon dioxide levels would go up and would continue to increase planetary temperatures. One interviewed recently said quite rightly that the root cause has been an ever-expanding population with ever-expanding ability to purchase cars and airline tickets.
Secondly thought how we stopped talking about 'global warming' and began bigging up 'climate change' instead. I think for two reasons: because the odd cold spell did allow the alt-right end of the political spectrum to call it fake news, but as regards us generally because we're off the hook because climate change sounds less like something we initiated and pursued enthusiastically and could be laid at our door.
Thirdly, my guiding light in all of this is the planet Venus, which has an atmosphere that is 96.5% carbon dioxide... and a temperature of around 900° Fahrenheit.
Cosy, and still too simple for us to grasp.
