In this new study, researchers Detlef Müller-Mahn (Project C03 “Green Futures”), Evelyne Atieno Owino (Project B03 “Violent Futures”) and Theobald Frank Theodory (Project C03 “Green Futures”) examine three failed airport projects in Kenya, Tanzania, and Germany to understand how “ghost airports” emerge and what effects they have on local communities. They explore why these large infrastructure projects stalled or collapsed, and how their unfinished or abandoned state continues to shape regional development and social realities.
Ghost Airports: the Boom and Bust of Large Infrastructure Projects
By Detlef Müller-Mahn, Evelyne Atieno Owino and Theobald Frank Theodory
Abstract
The paper takes the example of three airport projects that have not developed as planned to investigate the emergence of ghost projects. We build upon a conceptual approach that confronts the ontology of abandoned infrastructures with the hauntology of ghosts. While airports are usually associated with acceleration and progress, ghost airports are instead characterised by stagnation and decay. Using case studies from Kenya, Tanzania and Germany, we examine under what conditions these airports were initiated and planned, why they got in trouble and became ghost projects, and what consequences this has for local populations. The comparative perspective allows us to highlight the boom and bust of large infrastructures as a global phenomenon, with a focus on their ambiguity and hauntology. Ghost airports demonstrate that these infrastructures are not just remnants of the past. Rather, they influence their environment in temporal episodes of ghosting before, during or after construction works. Studying ghost airports can help us to understand how past ideas about regional development continue to influence the present, despite changes in politics and the economy.
Reference
Müller-Mahn, D., Owino, E. A., Theodory, T. F. 2026. Ghost airports: the boom and bust of large infrastructure projects. Third World Quarterly, 47(1), 221–238. DOI
