L-K,
Thanks for the link, I am very well versed in the concept of the airport city as my degree was in Architecture. One place I took a very close look at was DEN, which is finally becoming an airport city nearly 20 years after opening. The Americans also have the concept of building their cities around airports instead of the other way round - ATL, CLT probably being two good examples and DEN trying to follow in that mould. Not sure why BHX isn't on that list as we have the huge NEC complex bolted on!
There is a niche for us geeks out there, but even after you combine spotters, architecture pundits and film locations buffs (I count myself as all 3), I doubt it is more than a seat on each flight! Maybe SXM has a few more than that
I'm not familiar with Auge, but his thesis sounds similar to the work of Andres Duany who wrote 'Suburban Nation' - but who also did something about what he wrote and has designed numerous town plans around the world, including the highly influential Seaside, Fl (featured in Truman Show).
Are airports suburban? Inasmmuch as they are usually heavily road dependent, and usually low density sprawl, then they often are. But I would say MAN has a distinct sense of place, and that the central terminal area is quite dense.