September 27, 2011 After the first successful powered flight by
the Wright Brothers in 1903, it seemed like only a matter of
time before everyone would be zipping around in their own
personal aircraft. But if commuting to work via personal
aeroplane was the future, how might the design of cities have to
change to accommodate them? The most pressing issue was, of
course, runways. But everyone knows that the metropolis of
tomorrow has its eyes fixed skyward. So, where in a cramped and
ever more vertical city like New York or Chicago might commuters
be able to take off and land? On the tops of buildings, of
course. The June 1919 issue of Popular Science Monthly magazine
envisioned the city of the future with circular tracks for
taking off and landing. An article by Carl Dienstbach laid out
the possible pitfalls of trying to move aircraft through
American cities. “Clearly, city streets, flanked by high cliffs
of architecture, lend themselves about as well for airplane
landing and starting as they do for ice-boati