Adani Airports' proposed 'Aerocities' refocus attention on the Airport City/Aerotropolis conundrum

Adani Airports has announced that it will build what it calls 'aerocities' and 'urban districts' at six of its eight airports in India. Effectively it is adding a real estate offer to each of those airports, which include the old and new airports serving Mumbai, the country's commercial capital. Adani is already heavily involved in the real estate sector and especially in Mumbai.

India is now the most populous nation on Earth and its economy must meet those demands. It will be surprising if other operators in the country do not rise to the challenge and produce their own, similar, schemes at their airports.

Separately, Adani's choice of name for these developments has reignited a debate about the terminology used in the business. What is an airport city? And an aerotropolis, which seems to be even more vague?

This report seeks to unravel what they mean.