Logistics sprawl in monocentric and polycentric metropolitan areas: the cases of Paris, France, and the Randstad, the Netherlands

Authors

  • Adeline Heitz IFSTTAR / University of Paris East
  • Laetitia Dablanc IFSTTAR, Paris, France
  • Lorant A. Tavasszy Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18335/region.v4i1.158

Keywords:

Logistics sprawl, logistics urbanization, warehouses, urban policies

Abstract

The phenomenon of urban sprawl has been studied extensively. Most research so far has focused on residential settlements. A growing number of studies have addressed industrial deconcentration. Our focus in this paper is on logistics sprawl, i.e. the growth and suburban relocation of warehousing activities. Specifically, we investigate the difference in logistics sprawl between monocentric and polycentric systems of cities. The literature suggests that logistics activities, like residential settlements, will gradually move to suburbs as land prices increase in central areas. As research for logistics has mostly focused on monocentric systems, the question is whether this also applies to polycentric systems. We compare two cases, the Paris region in France, representative of a monocentric development, and the Dutch Randstad area as a polycentric case. We use regional statistics on warehouse settlements in both regions for a descriptive analysis of changes since the mid 2000s to derive metrics for concentration. The cases show different patterns of change in concentration. In contrast to Paris, logistics activities within the Randstad have intensified in dense areas. We explore the reasons that may explain this difference and conclude that urban structure, spatial planning policies and the freight hub quality of a region are factors of influence. 

References

Allain R (2004) Morphologie urbaine, géographie, aménagement et architecture de la ville. Armand Colin, Collection U, Paris

Andriankaja D (2014) Le Desserrement logistique, quelle responsabilité dans l’argumentation des émissions de CO2 des activités de messagerie ?, PhD Thesis, defended on June 20th, University of Paris-East (in French ; non published)

Berroir S, Mathian H, Saint-Julien T, Sanders M, (2008) La mobilité dans la construction du polycentrisme métropolitain. In : Thiérault M., Des Rosiers F. (Dir.), Information Géographique et dynamiques Urbaines 1, Hermes-Lavoisier, collection, IGAT, 31-57

Bogaerts A, Dieleman F, Dijst M, Geertman S. (2007) Economic deconcentration in a rational planning system: The Dutch case, in: Razin E et al. (Eds), Employment Deconcentration in European Metropolitan Areas, 29-52

Bowen J (2008) Moving Places: The Geography of Warehousing in the US. Journal of Transport Geography, 16(6):379-87

Burke G (1966) Green Heart Metropolis: Planning the Western Netherlands. Macmillan. Toronto

Champion A G (2001) A changing Demographic Regime and Evolving Polycentric Urban Regions: Consequences for the size, Composition and distribution of City Populations, Urban Studies, 38 (4), 657 – 677

Cidell J (2010) Concentration and Decentralization: The New Geography of Freight Distribution in US Metropolitan Areas, Journal of Transport Geography, 18 (3), 363-71

Cidell J (2011) Distribution Centers among rooftops: the global logistics network meets the suburban spatial imaginary. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 35(4): 832-851

Dablanc L, Rakotonarivo D (2010) The impacts of logistic sprawl: How does the location of parcel transport terminals affect the energy efficiency of goods’ movements in Paris and what can we do about it? Procedia. Social and Behavioral Sciences. 2, 3, 6087-6096

Dablanc L (2014) Logistics Sprawl and Urban Freight Planning Issues in a Major Gateway City - The Case of Los Angeles. In: J. Gonzalez-Feliu, F. Semet, and J.L. Routhier (Eds.) Sustainable Urban Logistics: Concepts, Methods and Information Systems, Springer, 2014, 49-69

Dablanc L, Ross C (2012) Atlanta: A Mega Logistics Center in the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion (PAM). Journal of Transport Geography, 24, 2012, 432-442

Dablanc L, Fremont A (2013) The Paris Region, Operating and planning freight at multiple scales in European city. In: P.V. Hall and M. Hesse (Eds) Cities, Regions and Flows, Routledge, 95-113

Dablanc L, Raimbault N, (2015) Penser autrement la métropole logistique: questions d’aménagement et d’urbanisme. In : L. Dablanc and A. Frémont (Eds) La métropole logistique, Le transport de marchandises et le territoire des grandes villes, Armand Colin, Paris.

DATAR (2002) Le Bassin Parisien, contribution de l’Etat à de nouveaux enjeux interrégionaux. La Documentation Française, Paris.

Davoudi S (2003) Polycentricity in European spatial planning: from an analytical tool to a normative agenda. European Planning Studies 6(4), 365-377

Davydenko I Y, Tavasszy L A, Quak H (2013) A quantitative model for exploration of logistics sprawl of the future, METRANS conference, http://www.metrans.org/sites/default/files/Metrans_Davydenko_Tavasszy_Quak.pdf

DRIEA (2009) Étude sur l’estimation et la caractérisation du parc d’entrepôts en Ile-de-France. Octobre

Garreau J (1991) Edge City: Life on the new frontier. New York: Doubleday, pp548

Gordon, P, Richardson HW (1996) Beyond Polycentricity, The dispersed Metropolis, Los Angeles, 1970-1990, Journal of American Planning Association, vol. 32, 3, 289-295

Hall P (2008) How polycentric are mega-city regions? Nova Terra, January, 24-29

Hall P V, Hesse M (2013) Cities, Flows and scale. Policy responses to the dynamics of integration and disintegration. In: Cities, Regions and Flows, (Eds) P.V. Hall and M. Hesse, Routledge Studies in Human Geography, 247-259

Halbert L (2007) From sectors to functions: producer services, metropolisation and agglomeration forces in the Ile-de-France region. Belgeo, n◦ 1, pp. 73-93

Havenplan (2010) Port Development Plan, 1991. Ontwerp Havenplan 2010, « Toekomstbeeld van mainport Rotterdam », Rotterdam, 60 p.

Heitz A, Dablanc L (2015) Logistics Spatial Patterns in Paris: the Rise of the Paris Basin as a Logistics Megaregion. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2477, pp. 76-84

Heitz A, Beziat A (2016) The parcel industry in the spatial organization of logistics activities in the Paris region: inherited spatial patterns and innovations of urban logistics systems. Transportation Research Procedia, Volume 12, Pages 812–824

Heuvel F P, Van den, Langen P W de, Donselaar K H and Van Fransoo J C (2013) Spatial concentration and location dynamics in logistics: the case of a Dutch province. Journal of Transport Geography, 28, 39-48

Kühn M (2003) Greenbelt and Green Heart: separating and integrating landscapes in European city regions, Landscape and urban planning, 64, 19-27

Le Nechet F, Aguiléra A (2012) Forme urbaine et mobilité domicile-travail dans 13 aires urbaines françaises : une analyse multiéchelle. Recherche Transports et Sécurité, 28, 3-4, 259-270

Meijers E (2005) Polycentric Urban Regions and the Quest for Synergy: Is a Network of Cities More than the Sum of the Parts? Urban Studies Vol. 42(4) 765-781

Mitchell A (2005) Manuel ESRI d'analyse SIG, 2.ESRI Press.

Nadin V, Duhr S (2005) Some help with Euro-planning jargon. Town and Country Planning, vol 74, p82

Nicot B H (1996) Une mesure de l’étalement urbain en France, 1982-1990. Revue d’Economie Régionale et Urbaine, pp. 71-98

OECD (2007) Randstad Holland, Netherlands, OECD Territorial Reviews. pp238

Offner J M (2006) Les territoires de l’action publique locale, Fausses pertinences et jeux d’écarts. Revue Française de Science Politique. Vol 56.p182

Priemus H, Visser J (1995) Infrastructure policy in the Randstad Holland: struggle between accessibility and sustainability, Political Geography, 14, No 4, 363-377

Raimbault N, Bahoken F (2014) Quelles places pour les activités logistiques dans la métropole parisienne? Territoire en Mouvement, 23-24, 53-74

Raimbault N (2015) Grande distribution : entre performance logistique et contrainte foncière. In : L. Dablanc and A. Frémont (Eds) La métropole logistique, Le transport de marchandises et le territoire des grandes villes, Armand Colin, 161-178

Rijksdienst voor het Nationale Plan (1958) Netherlands. Werkcommissie Westen des Lands. Staatsdrukkerij en Uitgeverijbedrijf, p.46

SDRIF (2013) Schéma Directeur de la Région Ile-de-France. Available from: http://www.iledefrance.fr/action-quotidienne/construire-ile-france-2030. (Last accessed March 31, 2016).

Stanback T (1991) The new suburbanization: Challenge to the central city. Boulder: Westview Press, p130

Terral L, Shearmur R (2008) Vers une nouvelle forme urbaine ? Desserrement et diffusion de l’emploi dans la région métropolitaine de Montréal, L’Espace Géographique, 1, 37, 16-31

Van den Burg A J, Vink B L (2008) Randstad Holland 2040, 44th ISOCARP Congress.

Woudsma C, Jakubicek P, Dablanc L (2015) Logistics sprawl in North America: methodological issues and a case study in Toronto, Transportation Research Procedia, Volume 12, 2016, Pages 474–488

Downloads

Published

2017-05-22

How to Cite

Heitz, A., Dablanc, L. and Tavasszy, L. A. (2017) “Logistics sprawl in monocentric and polycentric metropolitan areas: the cases of Paris, France, and the Randstad, the Netherlands”, REGION. Vienna, Austria, 4(1), pp. 93–107. doi: 10.18335/region.v4i1.158.

Issue

Section

Articles
Share