Arguments still rage about whether the airport in Vatnsmýri shall stay or go. Those who recently organised a petition for the airport to stay made much of its closeness to the National Hospital – whose location has also been disputed. I have had some difficulty in coming to a firm conclusion about these two issues, but now I think I have made up my mind.

I am convinced that it is not a good idea to build a new hospital in the same location as the old one, at Hringbraut. A better location would be further east at Ártúnshöfði, an area now occupied mainly by used car dealers and concrete mixing stations. The definite advantage is the good connections from there to transport routes and people (see map). The main road to the west passes by the site, and the main road south joins it not far away. For the large part of the country that is linked to the capital by land transport (including emergency transport by ambulance), this is a much better location than at Hringbraut. For the capital area itself, this also means better access to the hospital for more people. The centre of gravity of the population in the capital area is now in Fossvogur. This will not change overnight, even if planners in Reykjavík have now sensibly turned away from further suburbanisation and are working towards a more dense urban fabric west of Elliðaár. And there is (still) plenty of space up there. Activities like used car dealing and concrete mixing generally tend to move to the edges of urban areas. It is therefore only a matter of time before land use in this area starts to change, as has already happened in many former industrial areas in the city.

The idea is not without flaws, however. The existing hospital buildings at Hringbraut would not be of any use for the hospital of course. New uses would have to be found for them. Some importance has also been accorded to the closeness to the main campus of the University of Iceland, and the possibilities for creative collaboration due to this. I do not think this is crucial, when much daily contact takes place electronically. And the campus is well connected by bus to the Ártúnshöfði site.

And then the airport. I think that everybody would agree that the airport will not be there in Vatnsmýri forever. This is a great area for future urban development. That said, I am quite happy that some mad developers did not manage to get hold of this in the bubble years prior to the 2008 crash – we would have ended up with horribly ugly buildings of substandard quality. And I would not be unhappy if the airport stays for some more years. Meanwhile, we can learn more about how to plan and design a good urban environment. But eventually the aviation will be moved to Keflavík. Transportation is easy from there to the new hospital which will be built at Ártúnshöfði when the powers that be have accepted my geographical arguments.