The Redevelopment of London City Airport - Essay Example

An Analysis of Sources of Data for the Redevelopment of London Airport Tom Hilberg Shepherd There are plans to redevelop the London City Airport so that it will better serve the needs of the twenty-first century. The old airport has been found somewhat inadequate and there fore it will have to be redeveloped and expanded. Recycling needs to be expanded, and the levels pollution and noise produced by the airport need to be reduced The Airport will have to be redeveloped in a way that can provide the necessary expansions of services and flights and also obeys all safety, environmental, and aeronautical regulations. The redevelopment program must also be responsible to any public concerns from residents in the surrounding city. London City airport is located in the eastern part of London. It is between the Royal Albert Dock and the King George V Dock, two large docks that were built for heavy shipping and in a relatively populated area. It is also close to the Royal Victoria Dock. The redevelopment project will increase the size of the airport and the number of flights to the airport. It would also have good pollution, waste, and noise controls. There are plans to extensively increase the volume of public transportation to and form the airport. This would hopefully reduce the volume of automobile traffic and the need for a large road system. The plan is to build a larger airport that will serve aircraft well but will also not damage the surrounding neighborhoods, docks, or river with excessive pollution or traffic. To carry out this task, a variety of useful surveys will be used. These include an aerial survey, a picture of the finished airport, a geological survey, a hydrographic survey, a historical survey, a topographical survey, and a planning survey. All of these surveys have some importance, but some of the surveys are more useful for the project than others. Some of these surveys are vital, some very useful, and others less useful. The aerial survey is very useful to the project. It provides a visual photograph of the area around the airport. It reveals all of the landforms, buildings, and land uses around London City Airport. This is a very useful survey. If there are tall buildings, radio towers, mountains, or hills in the area around the airport it will be very difficult for airplanes to take off or land at the airport and a high risk of plane crashes. This could cause the project to be unfeasible. If there are residential neighborhoods near the airport they could be adversely affected by the noise from the aircraft. Any inhabited land that is very close to the airport might have to be bought up to provide a space for the airport expansion and a buffer area from the noise. Agricultural land or wetlands could be polluted by the expanded airport. This is the only survey that shows a concrete picture of the area surrounding the airport instead of an abstract representation. This is important in visualizing what the redeveloped airport would appear. The picture of the finished airport is important, but it has some limitations. It shows the size and configuration of the finished airport and how it would be different from the current airport. It provides information to help decide whether the airport can be fit into the useable area and the amount of land that would have to be obtained. The configuration of the runways is provided so that the flight routes of the planes can be known and visualized. The areas that are covered by buildings are also shown. However, the photograph of the future airport does not show how any of the space surrounding in the city around the airport would appear after the airport redevelopment project is completed. None of the buildings in the neighborhoods surrounding the airport are shown. Transportation links to and from the airport are also not shown. The lack of these features in the future photograph makes it impossible to provide that much information on how the airport relates to the surrounding city and limits the utility of the photograph. The geologic survey is very important for the feasibility study. The types of rock and soil in the area to be redeveloped must be known. The airport should be built in an area where the soil provides good stability to the foundations of all buildings. Soil that provides a poor foundation for runways and buildings would cause the project to become more difficult and require greater expenses. It would be a bad idea to expand the airport over a fault line. The porosity of the rocks and soil in the area will affect runoff. Poor drainage would cause flooding in heavy rains and problems eliminating some pollution. Reducing pollution is an important part of the redevelopment project. For the project to be feasible in a region with poor soil the soil would need to be made more stable and drainage provided through many expensive processes. Underground caves are probable with some types of rock strata. Building the project over a large cave could cause some stability problems, especially if there is heavy erosion in the cave. The likelihood of sinkholes forming on the ground in the redeveloped area should also be known. A geologic survey might also be able to identify precious metals, minerals, or oil that it would not be a good idea to place an airport over. A hydrographic survey is also very important and useful. The amount of water in the area surrounding the airport, local water currents, and the tides in the area should all be known. If any part of the redeveloped airport is to be built over the water it will be necessary to know the depth so that the cost and difficulty of filling in the water would be known. If there is a large amount of water surrounding the airport expensive bridges and tunnels might be necessary to provide transportation to and from the airport. The shape of the basin of the surrounding estuary should be known so that the size and effects of a storm surge or tsunami that hits the area is known. Large tides and tidal bores can also be troublesome. If the survey includes currents, it is even more useful because it would then show the probable path of any pollution that is discharged at the airport. Pollution should be discharged quickly into the ocean and it should not go into areas that are likely to become stagnant or areas that are used for public water, fishing, recreational boating, or recreational beaches. Currents in the wrong areas could also cause excessive erosion and scouring of the river banks and any bridges that are built for transportation to the airport. If the area around the airport is used heavily for shipping or recreational boating a hydrographic survey would show how the London City Airport expansion would affect both of them. The airport should not damage commercial shipping in the important surrounding waterway. The water levels and quality in the three docks close to the airport are heavily monitored and controlled. The Thames is also blocked by a barrier during storm surges. This reduces the problems that will be encountered somewhat and lowers the usefulness of a hydrographic survey of the surrounding area. A historical survey of the area surrounding the airport may be useful. It would show former land uses, buildings, and waterway configurations. This might reveal some possible problems with the airport expansion. It would be helpful to know if rivers in the area frequently erode new channels and shift their currents. Problems could also be caused by old waterways that were filled in at a later time and former harmful land uses that could lead to sudden discoveries of buried toxic waste. Toxic waste might require the project to be stopped. A historical survey can also point out areas that should not be built over because of the high probability of there being important historical buildings or artifacts buried underneath them. However, more than one historical survey is needed for a thorough investigation. The only historical map provided is from 1882. Most significant artifacts would have been buried before this time period, and toxic pollution from heavy industry would have mostly occurred later that this time. Changes in the waterway would also have mostly occurred earlier. More maps would be needed so that all of the land uses and waterway configurations throughout history could be investigated. A topographical survey is very important for this project. A map showing the elevation of all the land on and around the area that is to be rebuilt is very useful. If there are steep slopes on an area that will be in the airport, there would be a problem. Runways need to be flat for long distances and planes could have trouble taking off and landing if there are any significant hills next to the airport or mountains slightly further away. Transportation to and from the airport could be troublesome if the airport is isolated in a mountainous region. Some shapes of surrounding hills and mountains could magnify the noise from the planes and therefore cause problems for local residents and businesses. If there are problems with the local topography, the project would either have to be cancelled or it would require expensive blasting and infill to make the land flat and suitable for the expanded airport. The planning survey is extremely important for this project. This is the only survey that gives complete information on how the London City Airport expansion would fit into the neighborhoods and transportation networks of the surrounding communities. The survey shows the location of the old airport, completely shows the entire existing transportation networks around the airport, and shows many of the buildings around the airport, such as the important customs house and the exhibition center. If there are many residences near the expanded airport the residents may complain about noise. Any important buildings that would be affected by the redevelopment project might need to be moved. Important buildings near an airport could make the project unfeasible. If a registered historic building or a WHO heritage building or neighborhood is affected by the project the project would have to be stopped. Because improving transportation to and from the airport is a priority, a map that shows transportation routes is useful. There could also be problems if there were parks or other areas used for recreation near the expander airport. The streets, motorways, rail lines, and underground lines near the airport are also shown. This gives information on how transportation to and from the airport should be improved to give the desired results. It should be known if the airport is in an area where it would be difficult or expensive to improve the existing transportation network, or an area that would have insurmountable problems with handling the highly increased traffic flow. The fact that the map shows the existing transportation network allows it to be used to target improvements to the transportation network. Many different types of surveys are needed to address to feasibility of the redevelopment of the London City Airport. Some of the surveys are more useful than others, but all of them provide useful data. The planning survey is the most useful of all. The aerial photograph, geological survey, hydrographic survey, and the topographical survey are also very important. The photograph of the finished airport and the historical survey were the least helpful, but they were still useful. The combination of all seven surveys provided great information on the feasibility of expanding and redeveloping the London City Airport. References Association for Geographic Information. Retrieved March 29, 2007 from http://www.agi.org.uk The Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors. Retrieved March 29, 2007 from http://www.ices.org.uk London City Airport Consultative Committee. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://www.lcacc.org Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://www.rspsoc.org Royal Geographical Society. Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://www.rgs.org Read More