The Logistics City Chair is dedicated to research on urban and suburban logistics real estate and on trends and new consumption practices and their impact on urban logistics, real estate and the urban environment. Here is an overview of our activities since June 2022 and links to the main results.
The team of the Chair is also delighted to announce that GeoPost (La Poste Group) will become a sponsor in January 2023, alongside our founding sponsors Sogaris and Poste Immo, and the Île-de-France Region.
November 9, 2022: international exchange seminar on urban logistics and e-commerce mobilities
On the morning of 9 November 2022, the Chair is organising in Paris an international research seminar presenting recent research results on urban logistics and e-commerce mobilities. The event will take place on the Paris campus of the Ecole des Ingénieurs de la Ville de Paris/University Gustave Eiffel and will include presentations in English from:
- Anne Goodchild (University of Washington) – Bringing curbs to light; estimating the value of digital curb availability data
- Adrian Friday (Lancaster University) – FlipGig: Digitally transforming deliveries and collections in the gig-economy
- Giacomo Lozzi (Università degli studi Roma TRE) – Improving stakeholder engagement for urban logistics: the L-3D project
- Travis Fried (University of Washington) – New spatial patterns for e-commerce warehousing and implications for equity
Heleen Buldeo Rai and Matthieu Schorung of the Logistics City Chair will also present their work, Jonathan Sebbane (Sogaris) and Laetitia Dablanc (Logistics City Chair) will introduce. The seminar will be followed by a buffet lunch. Please indicate your participation via this link (attention: limited number of places).
Congratulations to the 2022 Master’s students
As in the two previous years, the Chair hosted or co-supervised a team of Master students who carried out their research internship on urban logistics over the spring-summer 2022 period: Camilo Bedoya (EIVP), Suzanne Friedrich (Paris I), Coriolan Gout (Paris I), Joséphine Mariquivoi (Lyon III), Keenan Ouaksel (Paris I-ENSG) and Emilie Tilak (Sorbonne University). The results of their research have just been published on our website in the form of dissertations and briefs or internship reports, as mentioned throughout this newsletter. Congratulations to the interns for their commitment! We wish them all the best in their careers.
Departure of Heleen Buldeo Rai
Heleen Buldeo Rai, the first postdoc hired by the Chair since 2020, will leave the team after three years of close collaboration. Her colleagues as well as all the sponsors would like to thank her in particular for her involvement, her numerous initiatives and her considerable activity in scientific publications. Heleen is returning to Belgium and will continue her research on e-commerce within the Mobilise team of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, supported by a mandate from Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). She will remain a valued contact for us.
The geography of logistics warehouses
The International Geographical Union (IGU) Centennial Congress was held in Paris from 18 to 22 July 2022. This conference brought together geographers from all over the world to celebrate the founding of the IGU, as well as the development of the discipline of geography and its relevance for the present and future. At the initiative of Matthieu Schorung, the Chair organised a special session on urban logistics with no less than 16 presentations submitted by researchers from Europe, North America and Brazil.
Matthieu Schorung presented an analysis of the evolution of warehouse locations from 2012 to 2019 in major US metropolitan areas and shared new insights into spatial warehousing patterns. Find his presentation via this link.
Renata de Oliveira, Laetitia Dablanc and Matthieu Schorung have just published an article in the Journal of Transport Geography on the evolution of the spatial distribution of warehouses and rental prices. Based on an analysis of US metropolitan areas, the article studies the links between the two. Discover the article via this link (free download until 2 November 2022).
Using the concept of “freight landscape” (Rodrigue, Dablanc, Giuliano), Coriolan Gout (Paris I) focused during his internship with the Chair on the socio-economic structure of a city through logistics and freight and how it can be characterised. Find his Master’s thesis (in French) and a summary (in English) of his work here.
Keenan Ouaksel (Paris I-ENSG) mapped the socio-spatial impacts of urban logistics spaces as part of his internship. Find the technical report (in French) here. He has contributed to two research projects already undertaken by the Chair, one on Amazon’s logistics warehouses, the other on ‘dark stores’ following a comparative approach (Paris, London, New York City).
Urban warehouses
In an international collaboration with researchers from New York City, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo, Heleen Buldeo Rai, Sanggyun Kang, Takanori Sakai, Carla Tejada, Quan Yuan, Alison Conway and Laetitia Dablanc published an article in Transportation Research Part A on the concept of ‘proximity logistics’, or the development of logistics facilities in dense, mixed-use urban areas. Find the article via this link (free access until December 09).
With a grant from the Palladio Foundation, Heleen Buldeo Rai travelled to New York City in July 2022 for a research visit, where she spoke with administrators, property developers and architects about the recent development of urban warehouses in the city and elsewhere. Heleen explored how these warehouses can be ‘good neighbours’ to the communities in which they are located. Some photos from her visit are available on LinkedIn.
E-commerce mobilities, “quick commerce” and “dark stores”
At the International Geographical Union Congress, Heleen Buldeo Rai presented her research on how e-commerce is transforming retail and the store. She looked at quick commerce, dark stores, warestores and their impact on urban logistics. The presentation is available on the Chair’s website.
A group of students from the École des Ponts ParisTech, supervised by Laetitia Dablanc and Heleen Buldeo Rai, explored the geographical and economic dimensions of quick commerce, in a course on the places and modes of goods transport. Their report (in French), entitled “Lumière sur les dark stores”, is available on the Chair’s website.
Laetitia Dablanc presented for the METRANS University of Southern California on how quick commerce changes urban freight and city policies. Find the presentation here.
Laetitia Dablanc took part in the France Inter radio show Le téléphone sonne on the limits of the “delivery of everything”. Listen via this link (in French).
Laetitia Dablanc and Heleen Buldeo Rai attended the e-commerce conference in Trondheim, Norway, organised by colleagues from SINTEF. Heleen presented the work she undertook with former intern Paul Marcher on omnichannel transport of goods to urban shopping centres. The presentation is available online. Laetitia and Heleen shared some photos of their visit on LinkedIn.
Our research interns investigated various topics related to e-commerce and urban logistics. Camilo Bedoya (EIVP) characterised the new practices in the large metropolitan areas of the Spanish-speaking world. His internship report (in French) is available online. Suzanne Friedrich (Paris I) and Joséphine Mariquivoi (Lyon III) both studied food e-commerce. While Suzanne focused on the real estate needs of short or local supply chains during her internship at Sogaris, Joséphine analysed the strategies of different types of operators. Find Suzanne’s Master’s thesis (in French) and brief (in English) here and Joséphine’s Master’s thesis (in French) and brief here (in English).
Gig workers for on-demand instant delivery platforms
Three articles were recently published on the basis of the Chair’s annual survey of instant delivery platform operators. A first article in the journal Information with Anne Aguilera, Laetitia Dablanc and Alain Rallet on the profile, activities and mobility practices of delivery drivers, a second article in the journal European Transport Research Review with Anne Aguilera, Laetitia Dablanc, Camille Krier and Nicolas Louvet analysing the characteristics of these delivery drivers before and during the pandemic, and a third article on the use of shared e-bikes in the journal Case Studies on Transport Policy by Camille Krier, Laetitia Dablanc, Anne Aguilera and Nicolas Louvet.
An article in the newspaper Le Parisien on meal delivery in Paris has included the figures from the 2022 survey. Link to the article (in French).
Urban logistics policies and new data collection methods
This new theme of the Chair (Theme 3) is under development, with the recruitment of a post-doc in progress.
For the Chair, François Adoue prepared a report on new data collection methods for urban logistics in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He examined Dutch initiatives, from ANPR (Automated Number Plate Recognition) cameras to data sharing agreements between logistics actors. His report (in French) is available on our website.
At the e-commerce conference held in Trondheim, Norway in June 2022, Laetitia Dablanc spoke about new methods of collecting e-commerce mobility data to support urban policies. Her presentation has been published online.
During her internship, Emilie Tilak (Sorbonne University) studied regional planning and public regulation of logistics. In her Master’s thesis (in French) and brief (in English), she studied the implementation of tools and practices to integrate logistics into regional policies and planning in France.
Laetitia Dablanc spoke with public and professional actors about low emission zones in Europe and their impact on the greening of urban logistics in a round table of the Urban Mobility Days 2022 in Brno.
Urban logistics at the time of COVID-19: capitalising on the results of surveys launched during the pandemic
Laetitia Dablanc spoke to Ian Kerr of the Postal Hub Podcast about the challenges of logistics and delivery in times of stay-at-home orders. The episode is available online.
Two publications have just been published that draw lessons from the specific surveys launched by the Chair or in cooperation in 2020 at the start of the pandemic and which aimed to understand the impact of the pandemic on urban logistics, “in real time”. An article by Laetitia Dablanc in Transport Policy on the subject, with Adeline Heitz, Heleen Buldeo Rai and Diana Diziain, and chapter 10 of the new book “Transportation Amid Pandemics: Practices and Policies” by Elsevier.
Scientific reports and publications since June 2022
Aguiléra, A., Dablanc, L., Krier, C., Louvet, N. (2022) Platform-based food delivery in Paris before and during the pandemic: Profile, motivations and mobility patterns of couriers. European Transport Research Review. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4020181
Aguiléra, A., Dablanc, L., Rallet, A. (2022) Digital work and urban delivery: Profile, activity and mobility practices of on-demand food delivery couriers in Paris (France). Information, 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/info13090433
Buldeo Rai, H., Kang, S., Sakai, T., Tejada, C., Yuan, Q., Conway, A., Dablanc, L. (2022) ‘Proximity logistics’: Characterizing the development of logistics facilities in dense, mixed-use urban areas around the world, Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice. https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1fy7W3Rd3ux–Y (free access until December 09, 2022)
Buldeo Rai, H., Dablanc, L. (2022) Hunting for treasure: a systematic literature review on urban logistics and e-commerce data, Transport Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2022.2082580
Buldeo Rai, H., Touami, S., Dablanc, L. (2022) Autonomous e-commerce delivery in ordinary and exceptional circumstances. The French case, Research in Transportation Business & Management, 100774. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2021.100774
Dablanc, L., Heitz, A., Buldeo Rai, H., Diziain, D., (2022) Response to COVID-19 lockdowns from urban freight stakeholders: An analysis from three surveys in 2020 in France, and policy implications, Transport Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2022.04.020
Dablanc, L. (2022) Répercussion des mutations du secteur logistique sur les conditions de travail des livreurs. Hygiène et sécurité du travail, n° 267, Revue technique de l’INRS, pp. 29-33, avril-juin.
Dablanc, L. (2022) La logistique et la ville, questions environnementales et territoriales de la logistique urbaine. L’Information Géographique, 3, 49-77, Armand Colin. https://doi.org/10.3917/lig.863.0049
Dablanc, L. (2022) Urban logistics and COVID-19. Chapter 10 in Zhang, J. and Hayashi, Y. (Eds) Transportation amid pandemics, Elsevier, pp 131-143. https://www.elsevier.com/books/transportation-amid-pandemics/zhang/978-0-323-99770-6
Dablanc, L., Aguiléra A., Krier C., Cognez A., Chrétien J. et Louvet N. (2022) Étude sur les livreurs des plateformes à Paris et en petite couronne. Rapport d’enquête Chaire Logistics City et 6T bureau de recherche. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qVlwVDfsiTV2TY-aDf5o-QPs9fHNKis1/view?usp=sharing
Dablanc, L., Proulhac, L., Raimbault, N. (2022) Enquête sur les travailleurs nantais des plateformes de livraison instantanée. Rapport d’enquête pour le PUCA/SUBWORK et la Chaire Logistics City. https://www.lvmt.fr/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Livreurs-a-Nantes-des-plateformes-de-livraison-instantanee.pdf
De Oliveira, R., Dablanc, L., & Schorung, M. (2022) Changes in warehouse spatial patterns and rental prices: Are they related? Exploring the case of US metropolitan areas, Journal of Transport Geography. https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1fpQ23RpEOTSDB
Krier, C., Dablanc, L., Aguiléra, A., Louvet, N. Sharing within the gig economy: the use of shared e-bikes by platform-based instant meal delivery riders in Paris, Case Studies on Transport Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cstp.2022.10.012
Schorung, M. (2022) Atlas of warehouse geography in the US, Ebook, Chaire Logistics City, Université Gustave Eiffel. https://drive.google.com/file/d/18pLAegEpFKSf5SkXpIzdpPXelwAa0JQU/view
Schorung, M., Lecourt T. (2021) Analyse des logiques spatiales des entrepôts Amazon suivant une approche multiscalaire et temporelle. Pour une géographie du système logistique d’Amazon aux États-Unis, Rapport de recherche, Chaire Logistics City, Université Gustave Eiffel, https://www.lvmt.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Rapport-de-recherche_Amazon_Matthieu_Schorung_compressed.pdf