From Airfield to Airport: An Institutionalist-Historical Approach to the Early Development of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, 1916-1940

In this article, the development of Dutch airports during the antebellum period from military airfields to mixed-airfields and finally to a municipal airports is examined from an institutionalist-historical approach. Specific attention is given to the evolution of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol within a regional socioeconomic context and within a national context of local competition, particularly between the big cities in Randstad Holland. This article argues that the rise and development of Schiphol and its impact on the surrounding urban area (city and the region) can be characterized as a coevolutionary process involving different actors within various domains— economic, political, and institutional—and at different spatial levels. Airport development, therefore, has to be conceived as the result of a collective arrangement that has determined the spatial and economic development of the airport itself and the surrounding area.