Emerging futures for Sao Tome and Principe's International Airport Campus

Abstract

Sao Tome and Principe has recently reached the completion point for the United Nation's Highly Indebted and Poor Countries (HIPC) program and is now looking to develop a sustainable and prosperous economy (International Monetary Fund 2007). However, the existing international airport is failing to meet the safety, security and capacity requirements to further the country's economic development. Construction of an airport security fence is underway that will cutoff several thousand residents from the water sources and will redirect routes to the markets of Sao Tome. This Master's project utilizes scenario planning to explore possible futures for the expansion of Sao Tome and Principe's international airport. The scenario development process is intended to facilitate dialogue within the country about the future by which policy and development decisions can be made. A wide range of topics such as environment, history, culture, economy, social structure, land use, domestic policy and infrastructure were studied in order to make educated projections. potential benefits, dangers, and conflicts between the issues were considered in order to design planning scenarios that present both positive and negative futures. The result was four primary scenarios for the international airport and surrounding campus that explore opportunities and externalities inherent in such a project with broad and drastic impacts. The representative scenarios included in this final report demonstrate a broad range of alternative futures such as: dramatic expansion, no expansion, or conservative expansion of the airport. Each of the scenarios is presented through various means to describe the possible future including: written analysis, story telling (narratives), sketches, mapping, and photo vignettes. This report is intended to stimulate discussion regarding the future Sao Tome and Principe.