# The quiet financialisation of urban infrastructure

Jean-Baptiste Frétigny, Marion Magnan, Juliette Maulat, Mathilde Pedro

► To cite this version:

Jean-Baptiste Frétigny, Marion Magnan, Juliette Maulat, Mathilde Pedro. The quiet financialisation of urban infrastructure. Cities, 2025, 166, pp.106200. 10.1016/j.cities.2025.106200. hal-05124397

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Pre-preprint version:

Frétigny, J.-B., Magnan M., Maulat J. & Pedro, M. (forthcoming), The quiet financialisation of urban infrastructure. The media in the normalisation of airport-led development in the Paris city-region. *Cities*

The quiet financialisation of urban infrastructure. The media in the normalisation of
airport-led development in the Paris city-region

Abstract

Airport management companies increasingly shape urban space through their role in non-
aeronautical property developments (e.g. hotels, business parks, logistics zones, conference
centres, etc.). These development strategies are instrumental to the diversification and
financialisation of the companies' activities. They raise key issues for the public debate on cities as
they have important economic, social, environmental and political consequences for metropolitan
growth and change, regarding land clearance, urban sprawl, and the socio-economic prioritisation
of the areas under development. This paper examines the way the press addresses these issues in
public debate. Drawing upon a case study of Aéroports de Paris (ADP), the company owning and
managing airports in Paris city-region, this article analyses media reports spanning the period from
1990 to 2024. It shows that ADP's financialisation-driven property strategy and its increasing role
in the development of the Paris region is rarely questioned by the press. Media coverage struggles
to address the processes at stake, and thus limit their understanding by the readership and the
questioning of the urban model to which they contribute. Our results suggest that the news media
tend to naturalise the market-driven diversification of airport firms and their growing role and
impact in shaping metropolitan peripheries.

Key words: infrastructure-led development, property development, mainstream media, post-political consensus, airport city

1. Introduction

Airport managers increasingly shape urban space, as property development has become an
important component of their business models. Schiphol Group (Morrison, 2009), Brussels
Airports Company (Deruytter and Derudder, 2019) or Heathrow Airport Holdings (McNeill,
2010) develop numerous non-aeronautical, commercial activities: hotels, business parks,
conference centres or retail outlets on their land. The diversification of airport managers’ portfolios
has been the subject of extensive research, mostly focusing on ‘airport city’ models (Freestone and
Baker, 2011; Kasarda, 2006) and the expansion of retail and property development within airports
terminals (Graham, 2019). These trends reflect profound changes in the oversight and funding of
airports, driven by the financialisation of urban infrastructures (Allen and Pryke, 2013; Lorrain,
2002; O’Neill, 2019; Whiteside, 2019), understood as the growing influence of financial market
stakeholders—such as institutional investors, large funds, investment banks, and publicly listed
real estate companies—on their governance and transformation.

The rising intervention of airport managers on urban affairs has significant socio-economic,
political and environmental consequences for metropolitan growth and change. Their projects
contribute to urban sprawl, land clearance and to the prioritisation of amenities dedicated to
international business travellers instead of local citizens, in the wake of an urban model of ‘airport
cities’ deprived of inhabitants (Addie, 2014:88; Frétigny, 2016). These actions pose key questions
for urban societies regarding economic policies that encourage the service sector, large companies,
and competition between metropolitan areas. But they also raise the issue of the democratic
accountability of airport managers in land-use decision-making and urban production. Our analysis
addresses this latter concern through the prism of the press and its coverage of airport-led
developments. We argue that the press, as a mainstream media, legitimises the financialised
property development of airport land, and provides a selective and distorted account of its spatial
effects. We demonstrate that the press co-produces a post-political consensus marginalising
alternative voices and land uses, ignoring the crucial urban consequences of financialised airports.

Aéroports de Paris (ADP) is a case in point. Beyond its international activities, ADP manages
Charles de Gaulle (CDG, also known as Roissy), Orly, and Le Bourget airports, along with ten
airfields and one heliport in the Paris city-region. It oversees 6,686 ha of land—equivalent to two-
thirds of Paris’ inner city—making it the largest private landowner of a region marked by acute
land scarcity. ADP seeks to diversify its investment activities, placing special emphasis on its
property development portfolio. Recent phases of this strategy have taken shape within the
broader context of metropolitan restructuring since the late 2000s, driven by a neoliberal agenda
(Enright, 2016) and underpinned by the ambition to elevate the global status of the Greater Paris
city-region (Artioli and Le Galès, 2024). Major public investments in transportation infrastructure
support the urban and economic development of airport areas by improving their connectivity to
central Paris. Key projects include metro line 14, inaugurated in 2024 to connect Orly airport; the
CDG Express train, planned for 2027; and line 17 of the Grand Paris Express metro network, to
serve Le Bourget and CDG by 2030. These policies foster property development and enable ADP
to strengthen its role as both a landowner and developer in the region. Although Parisian airports
have been the focus of numerous studies—primarily examining airport economics (Subra, 2012),
shifts in governance and operational activities (Roseau, 2019; Halpern, 2011), and territorial
integration (Terral, 2024)—ADP’s land management and its real estate activities remain
underexplored (Fischer, 2019; Frétigny et al., 2024).

The paper is organised as follows. Section 2 combines two bodies of literature on airport land
development on the one hand, and on media, urban policies and the post-political era on the other
hand. Together, they establish an analytical framework questioning the role of news media in
shaping public debate related to airport land development and financialisation. Section 3 presents
our case study and methodology. Section 4 delves into the transformation of ADP’s land
management practices in relation to its financialisation. Section 5 investigates the partial and
positive media coverage of ADP’s real estate activities, while Section 6 explores how this
favourable media treatment arises from the interplay between the media ecosystem itself on one
hand and ADP and its communication strategy on the other. Section 7 addresses the broader
implications of these dynamics, revealing how they marginalise dissenting voices and alternative perspectives on airport land use. Finally, the conclusion discusses the distorted portrayal of airports' property development, the consensual framing it promotes, and its implications for the financialisation and the democratic governance of global cities.

## 2. Airport financialisation and media in the transformation of the city

### 2.1 *The financialisation of airport property development*

Like other infrastructure managers, global city airports increasingly use their land as a financing tool. Since the 1990s, they have shifted from a conservative 'public service-oriented paradigm' to a commercial, 'market-oriented' model (Graham, 2019). Airport property development activities are diversified, ranging from hotels and offices to retail outlets, logistics zones and conference centres. Similar to other urban infrastructures, airport land has become more financialized (Brenner and Theodore, 2002; O'Neill, 2019), in two main ways. First, privatisation has increased the role of financial investors, such as the Blackrock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners fund, in airport management. Land is no longer viewed solely as a means of production but as a financial asset (Aalbers, 2019; Christophers, 2017), with its capitalisation and development boosting financial statements, capital gains and stock market values. Second, airport managers frequently partner with private developers and investors tied to the financial sector. As a result, the actors, standards (regarding liquidity, risk or return) and tools of the finance industry increasingly shape airport property management (Deruytter and Derruder, 2019).

This transformation in land management is driven by three key factors. First, the steady opening up of air transport markets to competition has pushed airports to diversify income streams to enhance services, fund infrastructure, and stay competitive (Graham, 2019). Non-aeronautical and aeronautical uses are indeed intertwined (McNeill, 2014). The development of hotels, shops or offices on their land strengthen airport attractiveness (Button, 2017), by generating new revenue to lower airline fees (Morrison, 2009) or expand customer amenities. Secondly, this financialisation is tied to broader state reforms. While transport infrastructure in Europe remains under close state control and financing, new public management doctrines and urban austerity policies have encouraged airports to adopt 'innovative' tools (O'Brien and al., 2019), such as land development. Fully or partly-privatised airports, such as London Heathrow and Paris, increasingly treat their land as assets to attract investors. Thirdly, driven by entrepreneurial agendas (Harvey, 1989), local governments see airports as 'engine[s] of growth' (Boquet, 2018). They actively support property developments on airport land, such as hotels, shops and business parks, to stimulate economic growth, create jobs and generate tax revenue. These projects often involve growth coalitions (Logan and Molotch, 1987) of airport managers, local governments, and the real estate and financial industries. It echoes debates on the 'local' dimension of financialisation, highlighting governments' role in promoting or resisting these trends (Weber, 2010). As a political project, financialisation relies on state and local governments to create markets for financialised infrastructure (Ashton et al., 2016; Whiteside, 2019).

However, the intensity of commercial development varies widely depending on the type of airport, its governance, location, traffic level, landholdings and local market conditions (Graham, 2009; Morrison, 2009), with global city airports exhibiting particularly high levels of activity. Moreover,
by managing their properties in increasingly financialised ways, airport managers intensify
competition both between and within city-regions. Airport-driven urban development models
such as the ‘aerotropolis’ reflect an aggressive approach to land planning, prioritising the attraction
of higher-income users (Freestone and Baker, 2011; Frétigny et al., 2024). In addition, airport
development plans can lack integration with or even conflict with local government strategies, as
in Canberra (May and Hill, 2006). These models also face challenges: reliance on land-based
financing exposes airports to the volatility of retail revenues (Graham, 2009) and the cyclical nature
of property markets. This raises critical questions about consensus-building around airport land
assetisation, as well as the transparency of these processes, their mediatisation and their perception
by local governments and civil society. They are all the more relevant given that the critical
literature (Lassen and Galland, 2014; Jensen and Sheller, 2023; Ittner et al., 2025) has highlighted
the acuity of the environmental and social issues of airport development and yet so far not fully
laid bare the dynamics related to its mediatisation. This paper thus examines the role of the press
in fostering—or failing to foster—public debates on the expanding development of airport land,
particularly in today’s post-political and post-truth era.

2.2 *News media: an instrument of post-political urban policies?*

Urban studies, especially in the North American and British contexts, suggest that cities are
now shaped by a post-political and post-truth politics era (Swyngedouw, 2021). Urban post-politics
refers to strategies aiming at building consensus around neoliberalism. In this context, ‘what is
discussed is preordained on the basis of fundamental axioms being unquestioned and
unquestionable’ (Paddison 2009). In urban policies, these axioms circulate through narratives
enabling stakeholders to share experiences. Promoting policies deemed as ‘worthy of imitation’,
these narratives are often ‘non-factual and non-rational’, bringing urban policymaking into the
post-truth era (Honeck, 2018:133).

By promoting urban projects and participating in growth coalitions, mainstream media
contribute to shaping consensus. Studies have shown for instance that media can essentialize and
glamorize urban gentrification (Wilson and Mueller, 2004). While media relationships with growth
coalitions can be more distant, resulting in more polyphonic discourses (Lamour, 2018), dissonant
media have often limited audiences (Cointet et al., 2021). But beyond various invigorating empirical
studies, the media's role in forming urban consensuses remains largely overlooked.

These post-political and post-truth dynamics raise democratic concerns about the
marginalisation of dissent in the media landscape. Drawing on Rancière's political theory and its
uses in urban studies (Davidson and Iveson, 2015), media's democratic role can be conceived as
giving a voice to—and confronting the society with the opinion of—“part of those with no part”
(Rancière, 1995), within a logic of equality with other stakeholders. This theory enables a better
understanding of the processes involved in the building of a consensus, providing a more nuanced
and contextual understanding of post-political and post-truth debates. Scholars have precisely
called for revisiting these theoretical frameworks, inviting ‘not for a rejection of the notion of the
post-political per se but for a more differentiated approach, one more alert to the contingencies
of the political and of depoliticisation in the urban realm’ (Beveridge and Koch 2017:31).
Accordingly, by questioning how the financialisation of airport land is mediatised, we plead here for situated accounts of the media's role in the formation of consensus. Focusing on a French case study, we highlight the strength of post-political consensus-building in contexts where the public-sector involvement in urban affairs is greater than in North America and Britain. Yet, as our research investigates a segment of the urban economy deeply involved in the intense mobility of urban models, facilitating their translation in other cities at a global scale, these dynamics have broader implications. Furthermore, understanding the media's role in public debate requires situating these processes within the crisis confronting news media.

The news industry has undergone dramatic changes, including ownership concentration, contributing to standardised coverage, reduced journalistic staff, and greater emphasis on the commercialisation of news (Hanitzsch and Wahl-Jorgensen, 2009). The rise of digital media further challenges traditional media business models (Doyle, 2013), intensifying concerns about profitability. These economic pressures have undermined journalist autonomy, along various processes. Corporate public relations (PR) use news media as communication tools, aided by overlaps between journalism and PR careers (Viererbl and Koch, 2021). Heavy reliance on advertising revenues and consolidated corporate ownership exert additional pressures on journalists (Winseck, 2008). These transformations greatly affect news content. News agencies and PR firms produce pre-packaged stories for media outlets, resulting in 'passive journalism' (Harrison, 1998). Less resources are devoted to critical investigative reporting and analysis, especially in local newspapers (Amiel, 2019). This crisis has deep consequences on mainstream media coverage.

This study scrutinises how this crisis informs public debates on urban policies, an overlooked research agenda, as has been, more generally, linkages between media and urban processes. This line of investigation is paramount as the news media shapes the public debate by its coverage of urban changes, such as gentrification (Wilson and Mueller, 2004), urban renewal (Drozdz, 2016) or new urban mobilities (Lesteven and Godillon, 2020). Challenged in the digital era, this influence persists as mainstream media leverage social media to extend their reach on the opinion of the general public and elites, such as investors and political actors (Coppock et al., 2018). In France, for example, nearly two-thirds of posts on X (formerly Twitter) citing media outlets refer to mainstream media (Cointet et al., 2021). Even 'mediactivism' opposing urban projects often intertwines traditional and social media (Antolinos-Basso et al., 2018). It is our contention that understanding contemporary cities requires addressing mainstream media's influence on urban change and public debate.

# 3. Case study and methodology

## 3.1. ADP's property development activities

To be sure, financialisation processes are context specific. The financialisation of urban production in France has distinct characteristics, shaped by stronger state intervention in urban planning and real estate markets, compared to the United States or Britain, as well as a historical commitment to social equity, particularly through social housing. However, in practice, these regulatory frameworks are increasingly challenged, especially in metropolitan regions, where
financial actors play a growing role in urban development. Following the well-established
financialisation of tertiary real estate, including offices, retail, and logistics (Raimbault, 2016), more
recent trends include the financialisation of urban development projects (Guironnet et al., 2016)
and the residential sector (Gimat et al., 2022; Guironnet et al., 2024). In contrast to other countries
(O’Brien and Pike, 2017), France’s transport infrastructure has historically been characterised by
strong public ownership and regulation. Yet airports have become a spearhead of financialisation
in the sector. The transformation of main airport management entities into public limited
companies in the 2000s, combined with the opening of their capital to private investors, has
allowed financial market stakeholders to gain significant influence over their governance.
Financialisation extends beyond changes in shareholding structures, as airports increasingly engage
in partnerships with real estate actors, developers, and investors, integrating the logics, norms, and
frameworks of financial market actors.

More specifically, ADP is a public limited company, with 50.6% owned by the French state. Non-resident institutional investors, including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, hold 24%, while the construction and concessions group Vinci—a key player in France's highway and airport management—owns 8%, and the insurance company Predica 7.7% (ADP, 2025). Since opening its capital and listing on the stock market in 2006, ADP's activities have significantly diversified (Halpern, 2011). Like other airport managers, ADP segments its assets into aeronautical and non-aeronautical categories. Aeronautical assets encompass land and real estate directly tied to air traffic operations, such as maintenance facilities, freight terminals and industrial buildings with runway access. Non-aeronautical assets include hotels, business parks, and shopping centres. Our analysis focuses on non-aeronautical assets, as their development has been little scrutinised compared to terminal-based retail and services (e.g., Freestone, 2011; Graham, 2009). Additionally, their expansion—fostered by airport managers—raises questions about their relevance for urban societies and their alignment with planning strategies. Beyond core airport areas regulated by the state, ADP's real estate activities fall under the city-region development plan (SDRIF)<fnref n="1" /> and local urban planning schemes. SDRIF's guidelines are partially contradictory: they seek to reduce the environmental impacts of airports and limit airport land artificialisation by designating some undeveloped areas as biodiversity reserves, while simultaneously promoting urban development through improved accessibility to airports and the prioritisation of productive activities in CDG and Orly areas.

3.2 *Investigating the media*

In a changing media landscape, we scrutinised social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and Instagram), using dedicated queries on the Europresse database and the platforms themselves regarding ADP. We also monitored TV and radio broadcasts, particularly TF1, France 2, France 3 Ile-de-France, France Inter and France Culture, which include mass media outlets or others more likely to address this topic. In both cases (social media and TV/radio broadcast), content almost never focused on airport non-aeronautical real estate, even in extended programs dedicated to the transformations of Parisian airports or ADP. By contrast, the print and digital press provided limited but tangible coverage, leading our analysis of ADP's development activities to focus on this sphere. The corpus comprises news items from newspapers with the largest readership,

<footnote n="1">¹ Currently approved (IPR, 2025).</footnote>
grouped into five publication types<fnref n="2" />. Daily national newspapers (*Le Monde*, *Libération* and *Le Figaro*) play a central role in public debates on the regulation of national infrastructures. The regional daily press (*Le Parisien*) has a strong territorial presence and a greater focus on urban projects. Major national economic daily newspaper (*Les Échos*) covers infrastructure-led development and the real estate market. The trade press, through the example of *Le Moniteur*, provides specialised coverage of planning and construction processes (Hanitzsch and Wahl-Jorgensen 2019). Prominent weekly national newspapers (*L'Express*, *Le Nouvel Obs*, *Le Point*, *Marianne*) and one monthly publication (*Le Monde diplomatique*), emblematic of alternative and critical journalism, were also included. These outlets represent contrasted editorial lines, from right-wing (*Le Figaro*, *Le Point*), centre-right (*Les Échos*, *L'Express*), and centre (*Le Parisien*, *Le Monde*), to left-wing (*Libération*, *Le Nouvel Obs*, *Le Monde diplomatique*) or sovereignist (*Marianne*).

These news items are produced by media groups owned by larger companies involved in other economic sectors, such as the luxury goods industry (Le Parisien, Les Echos) or the arms sector (Le Figaro). Exceptions include Le Monde, Le Monde diplomatique and Le Nouvel Obs, which are indirectly owned by businessmen involved in other industries, and Le Moniteur, part of a more media-specific group. Such ownership structures intertwine newspapers with the economic interests of multi-sectoral conglomerates, contributing to their general proximity to the business community (Duval, 2000). This dynamic is heightened by newspapers' reliance on advertisers, favouring their enrolment in economic growth coalitions (Rieffel, 2015). Advertising influences newspaper content directly—through pressure on journalists or self-censorship—and indirectly, by encouraging articles aligned with advertisers' interests (Eveno, 2004; Van Vliet and Brin, 2016). Additionally, these newspapers dominate the online media landscape in France. In December 2024 for instance, 17 of the 20 most-visited media websites were digital versions of print newspapers or magazines (ACPM, 2025).

The analysis covers the period from January 1990 to February 2024. Before 1990, only one article alluded to ADP's property activities¹. Using Europresse's database, we collected 9,192 articles featuring 'Aéroports de Paris' in their title or introduction, 218 of which addressed ADP's non-aeronautical property activities. The subsequent analysis employed an “instrumental” and “critical interpretation” of press reports (Drozdz, 2016). Beyond gathering factual information, our qualitative analysis focused on the articles’ sources, content and representations of ADP and its property development (Table 1).

*Insert Table 1 here.*

Our second source of data comprises ADP's documents on its real estate activities (notably annual reports) and press releases, enabling an assessment of their proximity with news items and the permeability of the press to corporate narratives. We analysed 42 property-related press releases from 2012 to 2024, which primarily aimed to promote ADP's real estate projects at the time of their launch or commercialisation.

Finally, we conducted eight semi-structured interviews to better understand the interdependence between public relations strategies and journalists' daily work. Four were

<footnote n="2">² One key criterion for the selection is the extent of their readership, drawing on ACPM (2021) statistics for 2019.</footnote>
conducted with reporters covering ADP's activities: two from the daily press—one national, *Libération*, and one regional, *Le Parisien*—and two from the non-print trade press, one specialising in airports, and the other covering the broader transport sector. They were selected for their expertise in transport and real estate in the Paris city-region but also for their insights into working conditions, industry coverage decisions, and the influence of digital media. Three of them indeed held editorial positions such as section editor or even editor-in-chief, and three were particularly engaged with the digital sphere, whether through video journalism or their media itself, predominantly or exclusively online. Four additional interviews were carried out with ADP's executives from the real estate and communication divisions.

**4. From airport manager to property developer: ADP's land financialisation**

Our study examines the changes in ADP's land management practices prompted by its
progressive financialisation. How are these processes framed by the press? Established in 1945 as
a public entity tasked with developing air transport infrastructure, ADP initially managed the
modestly equipped Bourget and Orly airports. In response to surging air traffic and limited
expansion capacity, the national government initiated the construction of CDG, opened in 1974,
significantly increasing ADP's land assets. The expansion of real estate activities began in the late
1980s, driven by the deregulation of air traffic in the European Community and heightened
competition among airports (Forsyth et al., 2016). ADP launched a real estate diversification
strategy focused on optimizing land use to generate surpluses through office and hotel
development. Real estate products were structured into four categories: “operational” (facilities
meeting airline and cargo needs, such as hangars); “village” (single-use offices and warehouses for
export-oriented firms); “smart offices” (high-tech office clusters like Orlytech and Roissytech);
and “tertiary”: office buildings, including the Roissy Pôle project launched in 1991. ADP’s unique
urban planning regime—granting building permits through the state rather than municipalities—
facilitated these developments. Public investments also played a key role, with new high-speed
train and rapid transit stations opening at CDG in 1994, alongside terminal expansions and
enhanced commercial spaces. These efforts, combined with traffic growth, bolstered ADP’s
financial performance, with land contributing over 10% of income by 1996.

These developments received coverage in some articles. In a summary piece, *Le Monde*<sup>ii</sup> highlighted ADP's strategic shift and related organizational changes, such as the creation of a real estate department. Most of the coverage, however, centred on specific projects, emphasizing their economic benefits. The press praised Orlytech and Roissytech for their “smart offices,” while Roissy Pôle was described as the “future international business centre of Roissy.” Several articles mentioned the role of partner developers, like Kaufman & Broad<sup>iii</sup>. During the real estate crisis of the early 1990s, the press maintained a positive view, relaying statements of ADP's real estate director praising “attractive products for air-transport-dependent companies, offering them a competitive edge”<sup>iv</sup>.

The commodification of ADP's land accelerated with its corporatisation. In 2005, ADP became a public limited company, followed by its stock market listing in 2006. This shift was framed by the state to address ADP's debt, secure new funding for infrastructure, and remove regulatory constraints to diversification (Fischer, 2019). While ADP remained under the oversight of the Economics and Finance department through multi-year “economic regulation contracts,” the state sold 33% of ADP's capital, primarily to Vinci. The 2005 Airports Act transferred most
of airport land to the company for 70 years, securing ADP's IPO and facilitating the assetisation of its properties. The press highlighted the value of land as a key asset, with *Le Figaro* even comparing ADP to a “bride [that] will be beautiful.”v Despite the strategic importance of the land, the transfer faced little opposition due to ADP's intense lobbying, making “the advice of [its] advisory banks” widely knownvi. In return for greater autonomy, ADP was required to obtain building permits from municipalities for areas beyond the airport core.

After ADP's partial privatization in 2006, Pierre Graff, CEO until 2012, identified the expansion of non-aeronautical real estate as key for securing the company's financial stability. During this period, ADP invested heavily in property, expanding its hotel assets and business parks. ADP also initiated large-scale mixed-use urban developments, combining offices, hotels, and retail spaces, such as the Aéroville shopping and leisure center—developed by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield—and the Cœur d'Orly mixed-use project, both involving negotiations with local governments. ADP collaborated with renowned developers and architects, widely praised in the pressvii. Media coverage echoed ADP's promotional claims about the architectural and environmental quality of the developmentsviii. ADP began to be recognized in the media as a key player in the real estate development of the Paris city-regionix.

ADP's real estate gained significant media attention, with coverage increasing from three articles in 2001 to 23 in 2008, stabilizing between 7 and 8 articles annually from 2011 to 2013 (Figure 1). This rise was driven by Graff's active communication, which included six major interviews with the economic press. He linked ADP's capital opening and the growth of “secondary” activities, both inside and outside terminals: “We realised that a good return on investment could not be achieved with aeronautical activities alone, offering just 3-4% profitability, while the cost of capital is around 6-7%. We had to develop so-called secondary activities, which are in fact essential.”x Non-aeronautical land and real estate became crucial levers for shareholder returns. Under the 2011-2015 economic regulation contract (ADP, 2009), non-aeronautical revenues, including real estate, were excluded from financing ADP's public services, with profits accruing to the company and its shareholders.

From 2013 to 2019, ADP focused on consolidating its real estate strategy. Developments included the opening of Aéroville in 2013 and the launch of Cœur d'Orly. ADP took on both investor and developer roles, often in partnership with leading French real estate firms, to maximise land-value capture while retaining ownership of the buildings. ADP invested in hotels, office buildings, and business parks at Orly and CDGxi, and further developed high-end business parks, restaurants, and hotels at Le Bourgetxii, while engaging in urban renewal projects. In 2019, by authorising the government to fully privatise ADP, the PACTE law sparked a large debate on its future. An attempt to block the privatisation through a public referendum, which garnered significant media attention, failed to secure the required 10% of registered voters' signatures to initiate the process. The debate over ADP's privatisation was widely publicised in the news media, explaining a rise of articles on airport land management. Articles refracted discussions on the government's arguments in favour of privatisation, stressing the contribution of commercial activities—including real estate—to ADP's business model. Some adopted a fact-checking approach, challenging the government widely reported claimed that 74% of ADP's revenues were linked to non-aeronautical activitiesxiii. However, only a few in-depth articles highlighted the risks of an increased commodification of airport land. In *Le Monde*'s digital version only, Gregoire Allix stressed that ADP's “real estate assets” are “worth gold” and raised a “twofold concern: that the under-valuation of these assets offers a magnificent welcome gift to buyers, and that the public
authorities lose all possibility of directing the development of these strategically located areas”xiv.
Some news items envisioned the prospect of exacerbated real estate development fostered by its
management by a private operator, even regarding airfields xv.

The Covid-19 pandemic suspended the PACTE law and opened a new chapter in ADP's land management. The sharp decline in air traffic, followed only recently by a return to pre-crisis levels in 2024, prompted ADP to reassess its strategic plan, initially focused on responding to significant traffic growth. ADP withdrew its plan for a new terminal at CDG. While non-aeronautical development projects were slowed, they emerged as a valuable source of revenue for a group facing a dramatic decline in air traffic. Additionally, the 2021 Climate and Resilience Act and the energy-consumption-related Tertiary Decree strengthened environmental concerns regarding airport development and real estate management. ADP's strategy was subsequently adjusted through its Pioneer Plan 2022-2025, aimed at making Parisian airports “carbon neutral” by 2030. The slowdown of the Parisian office market and these ecological requirements led to a shift in ADP's approach, opting for more industrial buildings and fewer office spaces than originally planned and assigning some unbuilt land to environmental uses (IPR, 2023). ADP plans to preserve 25% of CDG's land and 30% of Le Bourget and Orly's land as biodiversity areas (ADP, 2022). NGOs are nevertheless raising concerns about the long-term preservation of this undeveloped land in the face of ADP's real estate strategy. xvi

This trajectory highlights how ADP and public authorities have engaged the financialisation of airport land. In 2024, ADP's real estate activities generated €314 million, representing 6% of total revenue, of which 80% came from non-aeronautical property: 25% from offices, 13% from business parks, 20% from cargo facilities, and 6% from hotels. Meanwhile, ADP's transformation and capital opening have led to the assetisation of airport land. In 2023, ADP assets were valued at €3.3 billion, reflecting a 43% increase in capitalization since 2016 (ADP, 2024). This growth is driven by rising land prices in the Paris region, land scarcity, growing air traffic, and major transport projects improving the accessibility of Parisian airports. The high development potential serves as a key argument for future shareholders. ADP asserts that a quarter of its real estate land remains undeveloped, including 49 acres for aeronautical use and 828 acres —twice the size of La Défense CBD—for other purposes.

*Insert Figure 1 here.*

**5. News media's contribution to the post-political assetisation of airport land**

**5.1. *A limited coverage favouring* ADP**

The corpus reveals limited yet favourable media coverage of ADP's real estate activities. By failing to provide a comprehensive or critical analysis, the press contributes to naturalizing ADP's transformation into a property investor and developer. Unlike the environmental impact of air traffic or employee protests, ADP's real estate activities represent a minor media topic, accounting for less than 2% of all ADP-related articles. As shown in Table 2, coverage tends to be superficial. Nearly half (48%) of the articles are under 300 words and 75% are under 500, underscoring a lack of investigative depth. Only two articles exceed 1,000 words, and 61% of reports pertain to desk journalism relying on press releases and materials from ADP and other institutions rather than
interviews or field observations. Of the 85 fieldwork-based articles, 60 were published in the daily newspaper *Le Parisien*.

This fragmented coverage reflects the limited attention given by the media to ADP's growing influence on regional urban planning and land development. The coverage is fragmented not only temporally (Figure 1) but also in terms of authorship: among the 103 journalists identified, 74 wrote only one article, while 35% of the pieces were unsigned. Moreover, long-term coverage is notably absent. Reports typically offer a disjointed view of development processes, consistent with observations in other contexts (Drozdz, 2016). They are often motivated by specific events: stakeholder meetings,^xvii^ project announcements^xviii^, the appointment of a new development partner^xix^, or foundation stone-laying ceremonies^xx^. Consequently, media coverage fails to follow up on ADP's projects and provide insights into the long-term outcomes of its land development initiatives beyond these isolated events.

## 5.2. *The legitimation of airport manager as a city-region planner in the press*

Media reporting tends to echo and legitimise ADP's business interests, often showing little distance with the organisation. The voices of ADP and its real estate partners dominate the sources cited in articles, overshadowing those of other stakeholders. Of the 218 articles under review, more than a quarter (57) explicitly relied on information provided by ADP (e.g., press releases, conferences, etc.) and 31% included quotations from ADP' executives (Table 2). These results highlight the effectiveness of ADP's public relations strategy towards the media. Similarly, real estate developers—ADP's privileged partners—are a source in 11% of the articles. In contrast, the state—which remains the group's main shareholder—is quoted in only 5% of the articles. Likewise, residents and associations, which are among most concerned publics by ADP's actions on the ground, are cited in just 9% of the articles. Airport employees and trade unions are largely ignored, appearing in only 1% of the articles. Elected representatives, however, are given greater visibility, being quoted in 21% of the articles.

Relatedly, the tone of articles tends to present a positive image of ADP as a developer. Among studied news items, 41% portray the group positively; 38% maintain a neutral tone, and only 22% provide a mixed or negative impression of the company. Consequently, the framing of the reports often mirrors and legitimises ADP's business interests. emphasising two main arguments or “interpretative packages” (Gamson and Modigliani, 1989). The first package underscores the non-aeronautical real estate's contribution to the growth of airport activities. Property projects are presented as tools to improve airport operations or enhance air traffic flows in 29% of articles. For instance, the 84,000 m² Aéroville shopping centre, opened in 2013 at CDG airport, is described as positively impacting freight activity, even though the flows it generates are negligible compared to overall freight traffic^xxi^. The financial contribution of such projects to ADP's business model is mentioned in 18% of the articles, while their role in maintaining airport attractiveness is highlighted in 6%. The second “interpretative package” focuses on the expected territorial spillover effects of land development. Property projects are framed as drivers of local economic development and tax revenues in 17% of the articles, and as sources of job creation in 15%—a key message in ADP's press releases. For example, in June 2014, the launch of a new office building provided an opportunity for ADP to emphasise the project's merits as part of the “eco-neighbourhood business district” of Coeur d'Orly. The building's “accessibility”, but also its contribution to
strengthening the so-called “number one economic hub in the south of Paris” were also highlighted. Following the press release, three articles in *Le Parisien* and *Le Moniteur* adopted this narrative<sup>xxii</sup>. Extra-economic effects allegedly conferring an urban atmosphere to surrounding areas are also underlined in 14% of the articles. These articles draw on ADP’s press releases extolling the 'airport city' qualities of their projects. Accordingly, press articles promote “living areas”<sup>xxiii</sup> with improved walkability and a “sense of conviviality”<sup>xxiv</sup>. By showcasing ADP’s ability to develop large-scale operations such as Aéroville and Cœur d'Orly—including public amenities in partnership with private developers, local governments and “starchitects”<sup>xxv</sup>—the media often portrays the airport operator as an key planner and developer of the Paris city-region<sup>xxvi</sup>. Regarding the territorial dimension, several articles underscore the environmental quality of the projects— whether through energy performance (e.g., HQE certification) or the use of bio-based materials<sup>xxvii</sup>. However, few articles address the broader environmental footprint of these developments, such as land take<sup>xxviii</sup>, impacts on air quality and traffic congestion, in an alignment with ADP’s communication strategy which highlights the environmental quality of its diversification projects, in a context of growing criticism over the environmental impact of its aeronautical activities. They also rarely evoke their social consequences for local development in economically-deprived airport-adjacent areas. ADP’s legitimacy as a planner, rarely questioned in these articles, appears axiomatic, with its role taken for granted.

*Insert Table 3 here.*

# 6. Coproducing the news

The partial and positive media coverage of ADP's real estate activities can be explained by various processes stemming, on the one hand, from the inherent logic of the media and, on the other hand, from ADP's communication strategy.

## 6.1. *A tactical use of the press by ADP*

This situation is first linked to ADP's tactical use of mainstream media. ADP closely controls its communication and image with various strategic objectives: minimising airport-related conflicts and hindrance to development projects, preserving the company's share value, and maintaining its reputation with investors. A journalist from the specialised press summarises this approach: “For ADP, it's very complicated, you know; because it's still listed on the stock exchange, so they can't just say whatever they want. Everything is checked, everything is weighed. The slightest word can create an internal crisis.” In a context where the environmental impacts of air transport are increasingly criticised, ADP's real estate activities—presented as beneficial for economic and territorial development—help redirect debates on other concerns.

This communication and image strategy relies particularly on careful attention to local and national media. ADP employs mainstream media tactically to enhance its brand, bolster its image, and strengthen the commercialisation of its real estate products. Through its press-dedicated PR department, ADP tends to co-produce the news. It issues press releases crafted as prepackaged stories for the general press, which are adapted into flash reports and are foundational for articles in the trade press. For instance, *Le Moniteur* published various articles between 2012 and 2019 that
directly reused textual and, sometimes, visual contents from ADP press releases describing an
office building at CDG<sup>xxix</sup>, a Marriott hotel at Le Bourget<sup>xxx</sup>, or a new urban footbridge at Orly<sup>xxxi</sup>.
ADP's PR department also serves as the primary point of contact for journalists covering airport-
related news, shaping discourses delivered by ADP's employees or even other airport-based
stakeholders, as mentioned by a trade press journalist: "The PR department already formats the
message for the interviewee, I've seen how it works: it prepares answers, the language to use, and
75% of the interviewee's discourse is inspired by this . . . . Everything is highly controlled because
it is highly sensitive, you have to take shareholders into account".

The PR department maintains close relationships with journalists, including local reporters, transport specialists or others who occasionally cover its property activities, as an ADP's communication executive reports: “Most of the time, these are people with whom we have frequent and regular relationships ... We discuss, it's part of a working relationship, a constant dialogue developing over time with specific journalists that I have regularly over the phone: 'Here's a topic for you'... Most of the time, ADP is pushing the information that the journalist then picks up”. This tactical use has proven effective, as the publication rhythm follows the timing of press releases. One journalist highlighted the quality of ADP's “Brand Center”: “ADP, for example, has an exceptional Brand Center, unlike anything I've seen elsewhere, even abroad. When I cover news about foreign airports, no one has what they have. They have tremendous resources, including a real estate photo library, etc.” For ADP, the goal is not only to enhance visibility but also to market its real estate projects, which sometimes face commercialisation difficulties. For example, challenges such as those experienced at Cœur d'Orly or with hotel occupancy rates were described by an ADP manager: “When a hotel opens, the hotelier's best interest is to advertise its establishment to ensure a high occupancy rate ... Even if we [at ADP] manage the airport, there is a whole value chain. ... To bring these areas to life, we need to talk about them, give them credibility, [and] arouse the interest of other investors.” This coproduction of information fosters consensus-building around ADP's diversification efforts, leaving unquestioned the legitimacy of assetising airport land. Moreover, highly emblematic of the financialisation underway, narratives for journalists and investors are intricately interwoven, as explained by one manager: “Shareholders, investors, journalists—everything is connected ... The investor relations and the press service ... work hand in hand ... They take care of the investors, roughly speaking, I take care of the journalists, *Les Echos* or *Le Figaro*. ... The target is not completely the same, but from the moment you are listed on the stock exchange, you must inform the market ... The information provided to analysts is also given very often to economic journalists.”

## 6.2. *The media ecosystem: adverse conditions for critical coverage*

Various factors contribute to the uncritical coverage of ADP's activities by the mainstream media. A significant element is the increasing lack of human and financial resources for field journalism. As one reporter of the regional press explained, “the management is really trying to cut costs across the board, including for local journalists. ... There's no point in replacing people who are out in the field ... with desk-based journalists ... just picking up newswire content and reworking it—especially when every other media is doing the same.” Contrasting with the relative comfort of attending press conferences, field reporting faces institutional barriers in the heavily controlled airport areas, proving unwelcoming to investigative journalism, as one noted: “While
trying to cover a story, I was kicked out by the airport police. These areas ... are highly secured spaces. I mean, I was outside the airport perimeter yet still kicked out. It's not somewhere we would spontaneously go to shoot a video. We know the authorisations are complicated to get, and we can't film freely as we'd like." The reliance of other news media on the press coverage amplifies these trends: As one journalist observed: "TV editors-in-chief will have the newspaper on their laps, saying, 'What are we doing today based on *Le Parisien*'s pages?' I've seen it happen in television newsrooms when I worked there. It's truly fascinating. 'We're going to bring to life the material produced by our colleagues in the print press'. ... That said, I'm not sure TV editors-in-chief are combing through the [local] editions when putting together their newscast."

Furthermore, the multidimensional nature of non-aeronautical real estate development intersects with multiple newsroom sections, including environment, transport, politics and planning, real estate, retail, and finance. This thematic dispersion hinders cohesive coverage, as noted by an editor-in-chief: it “falls under several sections. ... A section finds it very difficult to collaborate with another. Journalists claim otherwise, saying they work collaboratively, but that's not really true”. Geographic fragmentation adds another layer of segmentation, with CDG and Orly airports spanning three and two counties (“départements”), respectively, each corresponding to distinct local journalism coverage areas.

The nature of ADP as non-conventional yet influential urban stakeholder further challenges its visibility in media narratives. Journalists often perceive ADP as a ‘side player’ or even an ‘ungrounded’ actor, due to the specificity of its activities and the relatively peripheral location of its land. This perception is compounded by the fact that many journalists, especially section editors and editors-in-chief are, as one of them points out, “Parisians”, i.e. based in Paris city-centre, shaping their worldview accordingly. Two journalists interviewed depoliticise ADP’s property development by framing it as a niche topic, exclusively tied to finance or real estate technical issues. One journalist from the trade press envisions its treatment “as a part of non-aeronautical revenues”, stressing that “as a business-to-business magazine, [journalists’] role is to make good practices known”. Meanwhile, a journalist from the general press downplays its relevance to a broader audience, contrasting it with conventional urban development projects by major real estate companies that are more extensively covered.

Other explanatory factors lie in ADP's ownership structure and economic model. The dependence of mainstream media on advertisers—as a corporate affairs strategy—encourages alignments with neoliberal discourses and integration into growth coalitions that benefit ADP's business interests. Financial entanglements between ADP and the media further align their interests, whether through ownership relationships or business interdependencies. For instance, as of December 2024, the Qatar Investment Authority owns about 11.5% of Lagardère, which in turn owns major national broadcast and press media outlets such as Europe 1 and *Le journal du dimanche*. Meanwhile, Lagardère's Travel Retail—specialised in nationwide newsagents and convenience stores—operates a joint venture with ADP focused on retail within airport terminals. And Lagardère owns 2.8% of Vinci, which itself owns 8% of ADP. Dassault, another significant media owner through one of the most prominent daily national newspapers, *Le Figaro*, collaborates with ADP via Dassault Aviation and its private-jet-maintenance subsidiary, Dassault Falcon Service, on air-transport decarbonization projects at Le Bourget. LVMH, owning major daily
newspapers such as *Les Echos* and *Le Parisien*, also sells its luxury goods (e.g., Louis Vuitton or wines and spirits such as Moët & Chandon) in ADP's duty-free shops. Bolloré, controlling prominent TV outlets like Canal+ and CNews, as well as the major advertising and PR company Havas, have had a substantial presence at CDG, through its 30,000 m² cargo area park, formerly owned by Bolloré Logistics and sold in 2024 to CMA-CGM. This shipping company also controls another prominent economic daily newspaper (*La Tribune*) and regional newspapers. Finally, Bouygues, a media giant through its ownership of TF1, France's first TV outlet, collaborates with ADP on construction or energy projects, including international ventures. In 2022, the World Bank sanctioned their related entities for irregular practices in a public procurement contract for Madagascar's airports.

# 7. The rarely debated land uses of airports

## 7.1. Limited resonance of dissonant voices

Media coverage largely legitimise ADP's role as urban planner, though some articles—particularly from the regional daily newspaper *Le Parisien*—give voice to dissonant opinions and relay opposition from local elected officials to ADP's projects. This perspective varies depending on whether the project aligns with the locality's existing development strategy. Indeed, the press conveys contrasting relationships between ADP and local actors, presenting their interactions as positive, negative or mixed in 44%, 36% and 19% of the respective articles. Numerous projects such as Coeur d'Orly are framed positively, reflecting ADP and local actors' converging strategies. Nonetheless, when interests differ, local actors use the press as an advocacy platform to express their discontent and tip the balance of power in their favour. For example, in Wissous, a town north-west of Orly airport, the mayor leveraged the press to oppose the implementation of logistical activities on ADP land, threatening to refuse building permits<sup>xxxii</sup>. By contacting the press, such local elected officials assert influence over the definition of ADP's projects. However, they do not challenge ADP's increasing role as an urban developer and nor question its diversification strategy. ADP's local interventions also serve to reduce dissent, with the company's foundation financing projects aimed at addressing illiteracy, school dropout and academic failure—tools for fostering local relationships. As stressed by a journalist specialising in transport, large-infrastructure managers develop “a proximity strategy. .. You have to be everywhere. ... It's nicely framed in these organisations; they call it territorial action. ... They take elected officials under their wing as soon as they're elected. ... They finance ads in municipal magazines. ... They provide services, but discreetly, behind the scenes. ... That's powerful.”

Other stakeholders also voice discontent through the press. Publicising what they considered an uneven playing field in the hospitality sector, hoteliers near Roissy airport, for instance, denounced in the 2000s the lack of signage for their accommodations at arrival terminals, contrasting with clear signage for hotels within ADP's perimeter<sup>xxxiii</sup>. This tactical media use shows the absence of a principled stance towards ADP's actions as an urban planner. Despite case-specific examples, elected representatives rarely contest the airport manager's increasing regional role<sup>xxxiv</sup>. Beyond locally-based firms, articles rarely give the opportunity to other local actors, such as inhabitants or airport employees and their trade unions, to speak out. This is shown by their minimal representation in the interview excerpts (Table 2), restricting potential expressions of alternative discourses to the assetisation-led urbanisation.
## 7.2. *Editorial silences*

The press largely overlooks critical questions regarding the effective and potential uses of ADP's vast and strategically located land resources. Two key issues exemplify this lack of engagement. First, the blurred delimitation between the aeronautical and non-aeronautical perimeters of ADP's projects enables ADP to justify activities as legitimate core business pursuits when competing with similar activities in the surroundings. The Aéroville project is a case in point, ADP arguing that it would create jobs for an 'area hard hit by unemployment' and showcasing it as a facility primarily devoted to airport passengers and employees<sup>xxxv</sup>. This last claim has gone largely unexamined by the press, despite Aéroville's very limited transport connections to terminals. The risk of saturating the existing retail market<sup>xxxvi</sup> and worsening road traffic has been raised by an opposing coalition of some elected officials and consumer and environmental organisations. While they criticise an 'airport gigantism'<sup>xxxvii</sup> driven by the increasing accessibility and urbanization of airport areas, affecting local businesses, their views are juxtaposed with ADP's narrative without attempt to adjudicate between the two. The duality of ADP's activities and the conflicts of interest that may arise remain unmentioned.

The real-estate-based underlying nature of these conflicts is obscured by media coverage, as other issues are not raised. The local press provides glimpses of numerous alternative uses of ADP's properties, especially for accommodation purposes, such as for Travellers' encampments and emergency shelters. For example, in 2002, when every ministry was called upon to offer potential solutions to the acute homeless problem in Paris, the transportation secretary had "naturally directed" his request to ADP, which provided one building at Chelles' airfield, in the eastern suburbs of Paris for this purpose<sup>xxxvii</sup>. Similarly, squats have also been mentioned in news reports concerning Goussainville village, evacuated when Roissy's airport was built, due to its proximity to the runways. This village has been one of the most contentious issues between ADP and local actors. Articles mostly present the conflict in a mitigated or negative way, using highly sensationalist terms. Squats have been described as a "taste of the world's end"<sup>xxxix</sup>, and Travellers' squats as "wild invasions"<sup>xl</sup>. The press passes over the viewpoint of users themselves, focusing on the putative damage or "insecurity" associated with these groups. This narrative delegitimises "those with no part", rather than tackling the extension of ADP's properties in a context of land shortage or question the often-quoted "airport city" model of urbanisation, devoid of inhabitants and, to some extent, of elected officials. Articles dealing with ADP's operations never mention these alternative uses, only evoked as miscellaneous news in the geographic sections of the regional press. A more substantial engagement with these issues is missed. The risk posed by ADP's real estate development strategy and the company's expected privatisation on (in)formal, alternative land uses remains strikingly unmentioned<sup>xli</sup>.

By contrast, in other contexts, public media have served as effective watchdogs, contributing to debates around infrastructure-led property development. The 2014 project to relocate Mexico City International Airport to another site sparked a controversy over the planned allocation of the historic airport grounds to developers (Arteaga 2016). Similarly, the fractious German railway and urban development project Stuttgart 21, initiated in 2010 and involving selling land for urban development around the main station of Baden-Württemberg's capital is also a case in point (Nagel, Satoh, 2019). In the Paris city-region, projects such as the retail-focused redesign of Gare du Nord railway station in 2020 and EuropaCity, a shopping mall proposed in 2013 near a future
metro station (Tonnelat, 2023), triggered debates that ultimately led to their cancellation in both cases.

## 8. Conclusion: Making sense of post-political urban financialisation through the lens of media

Airport property development is on the rise, shaping the social, environmental and economic dynamics of city-regions. This paper demonstrates that ADP's changing business model—from airport manager to growing developer and investor in urban development projects—has been largely welcomed by the press. Yet ADP property development activities are poorly covered compared to other airport-related topics, contributing to their overly favourable framing. This overlooks their relationships with Paris city-region's planning. While regional press provides glimpses of alternative uses of ADP property, especially concerning residential use, such as campsites for Travellers, which property development threatens. However, these impacts remain unexamined and, consequently, depoliticised. Compared to other major transformations ongoing in city-regions, airport-related real estate activities are often seen as secondary and innocuous. Yet, these developments have direct environmental impacts—such as resource consumption, land take, and increased road traffic—and indirect, including the expansion of air traffic, but also key social repercussions on urban minorities (Frétigny et al., 2024) such as homeless people and Travellers. As we argue in this paper, the partial media coverage of these developments is therefore highly problematic. These activities also compete with local economic development strategies and raise critical governance issues, given the central role of the airport manager and limited local consultation. The absence of debate on the political, environmental, and economic consequences of ADP's real estate diversification obstructs discussions on alternative land-use policies.

The selective and positive treatment of ADP's property activities in the press arises from a coproduction of information between journalists and ADP. This convergence of practices and narratives is shaped by ADP's press releases, often recycled in flash reports or used as sources for trade press. But it also involves close relationships between ADP's PR department and journalists and ideological alignment regarding airports' contribution to urban economies. Additionally, the economic dependence of mainstream media on advertisers also favours enrolments in growth coalitions. More importantly, deeper complicity can be found in ownership or investment structures that financially tie the fourth estate to ADP or airport-related activities.

In general, the press overshadows critical connections between property development, metropolitan concerns, deregulation in the air industry, and the privatisation and financialisation of ADP. Consequently, media coverage fosters a post-political consensus around market-led development and the financialisation of airport land. While financialisation in France exhibits its specific characteristics—including a mix of strong state involvement and neoliberal market practices, along with a distinctive mainstream media landscape—the underlying dynamics can be extrapolated elsewhere. Airport business and urban models, related to the ‘aerotropolis’ and ‘airport city’ narratives, are actively promoted within the globalised aviation sector, while changes in news media have been observed across multiple contexts. This paper underscores the role of
the press as one of the discrete mid-range actors in the financialisation of urban infrastructure and
the built environment (Weber, 2010). More broadly, the paper pleads for a greater sensitivity to
media's intervention in urban production and to the voice given to –or refused to– “those with no
part” (Rancière, 1995). In this respect, the distorted coverage of airport urban planning issues
during the privatisation of airports hinders public debate on the increasing integration between
market finance and the built urban environment.

This paper suggests three avenues for future urban research. In connection with recent work
(see Deruytter and Derudder, 2019), it stresses the value of studying airport land strategies as a
manifestation of urban financialisation. Second, this study opts for a post-political urban-media
nexus perspective. Although this analysis concerns the specific context of Paris city-region, this
approach could work as an entry-point into other urban contexts and other types of infrastructure
to elucidate further the involvement of the media in coalitions supporting major transformations
of airports into major mixed-use urban nodes (Freestone and Baker, 2011), or the quiet
financialisation of urban infrastructure (O'Neill, 2019). Given the frequent promotion of urban
projects by news media and their involvement in growth coalitions across various countries, it is
likely that the forms of compliance observed in the Parisian case are also at stake elsewhere.
Thirdly, further exploration of such media discourses and practices, including alternative ones, is
needed. Part of the non-traditional media, for example, are more likely to address the assetisation
of airport land, and could adopt a more critical social and environmental perspectives, as these real
estate activities have far-reaching impacts on the local economic fabric, contribute to the urban
sprawl and car traffic around airports, and drive both material consumption, carbon emissions and
land take. Questioning the circulation of information and critical discourses between these media
(including citizen journalism and social media activism in grassroots movements) would help better
understand the power relationships at play at the intersection of democratic debate and airport-led
metropolitan transformation.

Finally, in a context where the fourth estate is increasingly weakened, other stakeholders must
take responsibility for facilitating access to and discussion of profound transformations of
infrastructure sites such as airports. As researchers, disseminating our expertise on infrastructure
investments and their transformations to broader audiences is crucial, since financialisation and its
urban repercussions, though complex, demand greater understanding and politicisation. The
academic community can play a vital role its fostering critical debates and ensuring democratic
accountability in infrastructure-led development.
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Notes

i (1989) Aéroports de Paris joue la carte de la croissance accélérée. *Le Monde*, 18 January: 45.

ii (1990) Aéroports de Paris "développeur" immobilier. *Le Monde*, 6 June: 7.

iii (1993) Kaufman and Broad traverse la crise sans casse. *Les Echos*, 9 December: 7. (1994)
Kaufman and Broad annonce un bénéfice de 24 millions. *Les Echos*, 7 April: 7.

iv (1996) Aéroports de Paris : le foncier assure plus de 10% des recettes. *Les Échos*, 17 October: 49.

v Ducros C (2006) ADP met le cap sur les grands travaux. *Le Figaro*, 13 March.

vi Coulon S (2003) Pierre Graff: "Une entreprise à part entière doit avoir la maîtrise de ses actifs". *Les Echos*, 24 March: 30.

vii Salvant C (2006) Le retour des grands projets. *Le Figaro*, 13 March: 15-26; Ducros C (2006) ADP met le cap sur les grands travaux. *Le Figaro*, 13 March.

viii V V (2007) "Le nouveau quartier d'affaires espère 10 000 emplois." *Le Parisien*, 28 November: 3.

ix Schwartz G (2004) Envol difficile des aérovilles. *Les Échos*, 29 April: 26; Bostnavaron F and Buffier D (2005) Commerces, bureaux, parkings... La nouvelle économie des aéroports, *Le Monde*, 2 June: 18; (2008) Un coeur pour l'aéroport. *Le Parisien*, 2 January: 3.

x Trévidic B (2012) Pierre Graff: "En termes de capacité à Roissy, ADP est tranquille jusqu'à la fin de la décennie", 11 October: 26.

xi Fagnart S (2015) ADP accélère la tertiarisation de Roissy. *Les Echos*, 30 September: 6.

xii (2013) Un hôtel Marriott ouvrira fin 2014. *Le Moniteur*, 18 October: 71

xiii Durand A-A (2019) Loi Pacte: les arguments tronqués de Bruno Le Maire sur la cession d'Aéroports de Paris. *Le Monde.fr*, 14 March [online]: https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2019/03/14/loi-pacte-les-arguments-tronques-de-bruno-le-maire-sur-la-cession-d-aeroports-de-paris_5436115_4355770.html; Darrangé M (2019) Les arguments douteux de Marlène Schiappa pour défendre la privatisation d'ADP. *Le Monde.fr*, 10 April [online]: https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2019/04/10/les-arguments-douteux-de-marlene-schiappa-pour-defendre-la-privatisation-d-adp_5448346_4355770.html

xiv Allix G (2019) Derrière la privatisation d'Aéroports de Paris, le contrôle d'un patrimoine immobilier qui vaut de l'or. *LeMonde.fr*, 19 March [online]: https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2019/03/19/derriere-la-privatisation-d-adp-le-controle-d-un-pactole-immobilier_5438180_3234.html. See also: Endeweld M (2019) Aéroports de Paris, petites concessions entre amis. *Le Monde diplomatique*, June: 14-15, and various papers in *Marianne*: Lévy E (2017) La grande braderie de Macron! Jeux et aéroports. *Marianne*: 10-12; Lévy E (2018) Le scandale de la privatisation des aéroports. *Marianne*, 16 March; Lévy E (2019) ADP: Veni, Vidi, Vinci. *Marianne*, 23 March: 15; Delaume C (2019) Stopper la privatisation d'ADP, c'est possible! *Marianne*, 14 June.

xv Delaire H (2020) Privatisation d'Aéroports de Paris: les aéroclubs franciliens craignent pour leur avenir. *Le Parisien*, 2 February.

xvi Legrand M (2024) Autour des pistes, l'or vert des friches. *Le Parisien*, 8 January, Val-de-Marne: 34.

xvii A F (2004) L'avenir du Vieux-Pays se précise. *Le Parisien*, 25 December, Val-d'Oise: 3.

xviii Parny L (2005) Une crèche ouvrira à la rentrée à Roissy. *Le Parisien*, 15 March, Seine-et-Marne-Nord: 1.

xix (2007) Aéroports de Paris. Le gestionnaire des aéroports parisiens vient... *Les Échos*, 24 January: 26.

xx Gouge F (2014) Coup d'envoi au projet Cœur d'Orly. *Le Moniteur*, 22 June: 78.

xxi Persidat M (2012) Roissy attire les promoteurs. *Le Parisien*, 6 November, Val-d'Oise: 2.

xxii ADP (2014). Vérier V (2014) Le premier immeuble de Cœur d'Orly sera construit dans les temps. *Le Parisien*, 4 June. Abraham A L (2014) Top départ pour le quartier d'affaires d'Orly. *Le Parisien*, 5 June. Gouge F (2014) Coup d'envoi au projet Cœur d'Orly. *Le Moniteur*, 20 June.

xxiii MA (2006) A la place, un projet de centre commercial futuriste. *Le Parisien*, 2 November, Seine-Saint-Denis: 1.

xxiv Lentschner K (2009) ADP veut attirer les entreprises à Cœur-d'Orly. *Le Figaro*, 9 March: 23.

xxv Salvant C (2006) Le retour des grands projets. *Le Figaro*, 13 March, 15-26.

xxvi Bostnavaron F and Buffier D (2005) Commerces, bureaux, parkings... *Le Monde*, 2 June: 18.

xxvii V V (2007) Le nouveau quartier d'affaires espère 10 000 emplois. *Le Parisien*, 28 November; Palierse C (2014) ADP embarque Accor dans le programme Cœur d'Orly, Les Échos, 05/12/14

xxviii Legrand M (2024) Autour des pistes, l'or vert des friches. *Le Parisien*, 8 January, Val-de-Marne: 34.

xxix (2012) Immeuble de bureaux à Roissypole. *Le Moniteur*, 26 October.

xxx (2013) Un hôtel Marriott ouvrira fin 2014. *Le Moniteur*, 18 October.

xxxi Laurent A (2017) Une passerelle entre ciel et terre à Orly. *Le Moniteur*, 3 February.

xxxii S A (2005) "Un tel projet est aberrant". *Le Parisien*, 24 February, Essonne, 3.

xxxiii Rousseau V (2000) La bataille des "hôteliers périphériques", *Le Parisien*, 24 August, Val-d'Oise, 2.

xxxiv Pestel D (2005) "Un projet pas pertinent et mal situé", *Le Parisien*, 12 May, Val-d'Oise, 2.

xxxv M A (2004) Bientôt 3000 emplois au pied des pistes. *Le Parisien*, 4 November, Seine-et-Marne-Nord: 1.

xxxvi (2007) Aéroville: l'enquête publique est terminée. *Le Parisien*, 30 October, Seine-Saint-Denis: 4.

xxxvii P A (2008) Blazy, porte-étendard des anti-Aéroville. *Le Parisien*, 28 March, Val-d'Oise: 2.
xxxviii Calant G (2002) L'aérodrome de Chelles pourrait recevoir des sans-abris. *Le Parisien*, 7 November, Seine-et-Marne-Sud: 3.

xxxix Thomas S (2008) Les squatteurs du village fantôme en sursis. *Le Parisien*, 5 April, Val-d'Oise: 1.

xl Prolongeau C (2017) Orly: elle abandonne son restaurant à cause des gens du voyage. *Le Parisien*, 11 January, Val-de-Marne: 3.

xli Corda J (2002) Les caravanes font craquer Aéroports de Paris. Le Parisien, 14 May, 3; Prolongeau C (2017) Orly: elle abandonne son restaurant à cause des gens du voyage. *Le Parisien*, 11 January, Val-de-Marne supplement, 3.

<figure><img src="image_2.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 1:** Number of articles covering ADP's real estate development. Source: Europresse corpus (2025)</figcaption></figure>

**Table 1:** Media coverage of ADP as a real estate manager and developer: analytical frameworks of the articles (next page)
<table><thead><tr><th>Topic</th><th>Descriptors</th><th>Specifications</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td rowspan="3">Nature of the article</td><td>(1) Newspaper: daily national press; daily national economic press; regional daily press; weekly newspaper; trade press</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>(2) Release date</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>(3) Author</td><td>i) signed with name ii) signed with initials iii) unsigned. This information helps determine whether the articles are written by specialized journalists, potentially writing several articles on these issues, or not. It provides insight into the depth of the coverage of the topic.</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="4">Journalistic genre of the article</td><td>(4) Article length: number of words</td><td>Long articles: more likely investigative or opinion articles</td></tr><tr><td>(5) Section: geographic or/and thematic</td><td>Articles in geographic sections: more likely to have an informational purpose</td></tr><tr><td>(6) Journalist's ethos: committed or neutral</td><td>Committed ethos: journalist's point of view explicitly expressed. Neutral ethos: journalist's point of view not stated or is implied. Neutral ethos does not mean neutral content (Ringoot, 2014).</td></tr><tr><td>(7) Investigative reporting or not</td><td>Investigative reports are based on documentary sources, interviews or field observations. Non-investigative reports rely on content from press releases or conferences, etc. Journalists scarcely clarify their sources: classification was often deduced.</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">Sources</td><td>(8) Source of informations quoted in the article</td><td>AFP Press Release; Press Release, file, or press conference by ADP; Press Release, file, or press conference by others; Interviews; Off-the-record source; Field observations; Indeept Interview (meaning the entire article is an interview); Other (including Reports and documents from various institutions, etc.)</td></tr><tr><td>(8) Categories of people explicitly quoted in the articles</td><td>ADP executives / State/ Elected officials / Public Development or urban planning agency / Developers, investors, Consulting or study firm in real estate /Trade unions and Employees / Residents and associations / Companies and entrepreneurs using real estate of parisian airports</td></tr><tr><td rowspan="2">ADP representation as real estate manager and developer in the article</td><td>(8) Tone towards ADP: positive or negative</td><td rowspan="2">(8) and (9) Tone determined according to the article's content and word choice employed. Articles may have mixed or ambiguous tone.</td></tr><tr><td>(9) Tone towards ADP's relationship with territorial stakeholders: positive or negative</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><caption>Table 2: Content of the press corpus</caption><tr><td>(10) Airport(s) mentioned:<br/>Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle,<br/>Orly, Le Bourget,<br/>aerodromes</td><td>(10) and (11) Media coverage of land developers can be partial (Drozdz, 2016). Possible emphasis on specific airports or real estate projects.</td></tr><tr><td>(11) Real estate project(s)<br/>mentioned</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>(12) Justification for ADP's<br/>actions: positive local effects<br/>and/or airports'<br/>competitiveness.</td><td>(12) ADP's projects: justified through the press, by the stakeholders interviewed, or by journalists themselves. The 'interpretative packages' method of Gamson and Modigliani (1989) is adapted to identify categories of justifications. Two main categories of justifications have been identified. The first includes arguments related to the <b>growth of airport activities</b>: i) improvement of airport operations or enhancement of traffic flow, ii) financial interest, iii) improvement of airport attractiveness amid increasing competition with other European hubs. The second category concerns <b>territorial spillovers</b>, including: iv) job creation, v) impacts on local economic development and tax revenues, vi) extra-economic effects such as urban quality improvement and livability of airport areas.</td></tr></table>

<table><thead><tr><th>Corpus of articles</th><th>Number of articles</th><th>%</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Total collected (containing the expression 'Aéroports de Paris')</td><td>12437</td><td>100%</td></tr><tr><td>Total dealing with ADP's real estate</td><td>218</td><td>2%</td></tr><tr><td><b>Origins of articles</b></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Le Parisien</td><td>122</td><td>56%</td></tr><tr><td>Les Echos</td><td>32</td><td>15%</td></tr><tr><td>Le Figaro</td><td>25</td><td>11%</td></tr><tr><td>Le Monde</td><td>14</td><td>6%</td></tr><tr><td>Le Moniteur des Travaux Publics et du Bâtiment</td><td>10</td><td>5%</td></tr><tr><td>Marianne</td><td>6</td><td>3%</td></tr><tr><td>Libération</td><td>4</td><td>2%</td></tr><tr><td>Le Monde Diplomatique</td><td>2</td><td>1%</td></tr><tr><td>Le Nouvel Obs</td><td>2</td><td>1%</td></tr><tr><td>Le Point</td><td>1</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td><b>Types of sections in which articles are published</b></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Geographic</td><td>114</td><td>52%</td></tr><tr><td>Thematic</td><td>61</td><td>28%</td></tr><tr><td>Both geographic and thematic</td><td>28</td><td>13%</td></tr><tr><td>Not identified</td><td>13</td><td>6%</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Authorship</strong></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Signed articles</td><td>140</td><td>64%</td></tr><tr><td>Unsigned articles or signed with initials</td><td>77</td><td>35%</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Number of articles signed by each journalist in the corpus</strong></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Among the 103 journalists identified (some articles have multiple authors):</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Signed 1 article</td><td>74</td><td>34%</td></tr><tr><td>Signed 2</td><td>36</td><td>17%</td></tr><tr><td>Signed 3</td><td>5</td><td>2%</td></tr><tr><td>Signed 4</td><td>4</td><td>2%</td></tr><tr><td>Signed 5</td><td>2</td><td>1%</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Article length</strong></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>≤ to 300 words</td><td>105</td><td>48%</td></tr><tr><td>≤ to 500 words</td><td>164</td><td>75%</td></tr><tr><td>≤ to 1000 words</td><td>206</td><td>94%</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Type of reporting</strong></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Investigative articles</td><td>85</td><td>39%</td></tr><tr><td>Non-investigative articles</td><td>133</td><td>61%</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Sources of information</strong></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>ADP's sources (press releases, press conferences, interviews, etc.)</td><td>57</td><td>26%</td></tr><tr><td>Press releases and conferences (other than ADP)</td><td>42</td><td>19%</td></tr><tr><td>Short interviews (resulting in quotations)</td><td>79</td><td>36%</td></tr><tr><td>Lengthy interviews</td><td>8</td><td>4%</td></tr><tr><td>Field observations</td><td>15</td><td>1%</td></tr><tr><td>Others (Documentary sources, official reports, etc.)</td><td>42</td><td>19%</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Number of articles quoting the following stakeholders</strong></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>ADP</td><td>71</td><td>33%</td></tr><tr><td>Local or regional elected officials</td><td>45</td><td>21%</td></tr><tr><td>Companies</td><td>18</td><td>8%</td></tr><tr><td>Developers, investors, real estate managers, consulting firms</td><td>24</td><td>11%</td></tr><tr><td>Residents, users, associations</td><td>19</td><td>9%</td></tr><tr><td>State</td><td>11</td><td>5%</td></tr><tr><td>Local semi-public organisations (e.g., development or urban planning agencies)</td><td>8</td><td>4%</td></tr><tr><td>Employees and unions</td><td>3</td><td>1%</td></tr><tr><td>Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI)</td><td>5</td><td>2%</td></tr><tr><td>Other</td><td>33</td><td>15%</td></tr></tbody></table>
<table><caption>Table 3: The framing of ADP's activities in the press corpus and justifications for property development strategies of ADP</caption><thead><tr><th></th><th>Number of articles</th><th>%</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Tone</strong></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Positive</td><td>89</td><td>41%</td></tr><tr><td>Negative</td><td>47</td><td>22%</td></tr><tr><td>Neutral</td><td>46</td><td>21%</td></tr><tr><td>Non-centered on ADP</td><td>36</td><td>17%</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Category of justification of real estate activities</strong></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td><strong>i. Growth of airport activities</strong></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Improvement of airport operations or enhance its flow of traffic</td><td>63</td><td>29%</td></tr><tr><td>Financial considerations</td><td>40</td><td>18%</td></tr><tr><td>Improvement of airport attractiveness amid increasing competition with other European hubs</td><td>14</td><td>6%</td></tr><tr><td><strong>ii. Territorial spillovers</strong></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Job creation</td><td>32</td><td>15%</td></tr><tr><td>Local economic development and tax revenues</td><td>37</td><td>17%</td></tr><tr><td>Extra-economic effects</td><td>31</td><td>14%</td></tr><tr><td>* Articles invoke no, one or several justifications, as a result the total differs from 100%.</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Treatment of ADP's territorial relations</strong></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Articles dealing with the relationships between ADP and local actors</td><td>100</td><td>46%</td></tr><tr><td>Positive</td><td>44</td><td>44%</td></tr><tr><td>Negative</td><td>36</td><td>36%</td></tr><tr><td>Neutral or balanced</td><td>19</td><td>19%</td></tr></tbody></table>