Airfield Manual: Field Guide to the Transformation of Abandoned Airports

The book is a companion volume as a field guide to the transformation of abandoned, decommissioned, and deactivated airports. The Harvard GSD Airfield Manual documents case study strategies and best practices for the conversion of decommissioned airports for a variety of new uses from public parks to ecological corridors, from energy farms to new urban districts. Airfield Manual is written for civic, business, and political leaders as well as for directors of aviation, engineers, and managers. Part I of the Manual offers an executive summary of issues and options attendant to the ownership, management, deactivation, and decommissioning of the airport site. This first half of the Manual describes five discrete strategies for the responsible transformation of the airport site through adaptation, conservation, conversion, redevelopment, and regrowth. Part II of the Manual describes in greater technical and operational detail the tools and techniques available for the transformation of the airport site for a variety of ends. These sections of the Manual describe techniques for the transformation of airport hydrology and ecology, infrastructure and engineering. Airfield Manual offers a practical guide to successful strategies, compelling cases, and potent practices assembled from the transformation of airport sites around the world over the past quarter century.