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 March 2022 and links to the main results.
The Orientation and Evaluation Committee of the Chair met on April 5, 2022 and approved the activity report for 2021-2022 and the research program for the coming twelve months. The team will grow very soon with two postdoctoral research positions starting in January 2023: one on theme 2 of the Chair (new consumption trends and impacts on urban logistics) and the other on theme 3 (public policies and new logistics data collection methods). More information on the positions is available via these two links: theme 2, theme 3.
Full team of Master’s program research interns for the year 2022 (March 2022-August 2022)
The Chair’s team welcomes a new group of Master’s interns:
- Caroline Adamy (Mines): « Logistics real estate and operational urban planning: logistics in urban planning » (Sogaris intern)
- Arthur Artaud (Paris VII): « Referencing and mapping the land footprint of logistics warehouses: exploration using Open Street Map »
- Camilo Bedoya (EIVP): « Characterizing the new practices of e-commerce and urban logistics in large metropolitan areas in Spain and Latin America”
- Suzanne Friedrich (Paris I): « Urban food logistics. The logistics chains for products from farm to table » (Sogaris intern)
- Coriolan Gout (Paris I): « Exploring the concept of « Freight Landscape »: characterizing the socio-economic structure of a city through logistics and freight”
- Joséphine Mariquivoi (Lyon III): « Urban food logistics: strategies of stakeholders in the food e-commerce sector »
- Keenan Ouaksel (Paris I-ENSG): « Characterizing and mapping the socio-spatial impacts of urban logistics facilities”
- Emilie Tilak (Sorbonne University): « Regional planning, public regulation of logistics: tools, and practices »
The geography of logistics warehouses
Matthieu Schorung has completed an ebook on the geography of logistics warehouses in the United States, including a cartographic analysis of the spatial distribution of warehouses nationwide, in 45 metropolitan areas and in eight megaregions. For a printed version, please write to matthieu.schorung@univ-eiffel.fr.
The Chair team attended the I-NUF International Conference on Urban Freight in Long Beach (May 25-27, 2022) with two papers: Heleen Buldeo Rai on the notion of « proximity logistics » and urban logistics real estate; and Laetitia Dablanc and Matthieu Schorung on the spatial patterns of logistics warehouses in the United States.
Laetitia Dablanc gave a presentation on « Logistics geographies » at Politecnico di Milano.
European Conference of Transport Research Institutes (ECTRI): Laetitia Dablanc presented recent research results of the Chair on consumer trends related to e-commerce and the latest developments in urban logistics, particularly on new warehouse models.
Matthieu Schorung and Thibault Lecourt have completed an analysis of the spatial pattern of Amazon warehouses in the United States following a multiscalar and temporal approach. The research report is available online.
E-commerce mobilities, “quick commerce” and “dark stores”
The Chair’s team contributed to the debate on quick commerce and the issues related to dark stores, small grocery warehouses that are not open to the public and are used only for delivery, by publishing an article in The Conversation France (in French).
Laetitia Dablanc participated in a radio show of France Culture on the phenomenon of dark stores and dark kitchens. Link to the program (in French). Heleen Buldeo Rai also gave a presentation on the topic on the webinar of Comeos, which represents trade and services in Belgium.
Heleen Buldeo Rai and Laetitia Dablanc published a scientific article in the journal Transport Reviews on e-commerce and urban logistics data. This link leads to the article.
A round table at Autonomy Expo in Paris, March 16, 2022 on dark stores with the deputy mayor of Barcelona, the director of urban planning of Buenos Aires and the Logistics City Chair, is available at: https://vimeo.com/709120974/1123afc078.
We continue to update the E-commerce Mobilities Observatory, especially the pages on COVID-19, general statistics on e-commerce and warehousing. Do not hesitate to consult it!
Sustainable urban logistics
Laetitia Dablanc presented at an ECTRI Freight and Logistics Theme Group, in a webinar on sustainable urban logistics.
Heleen Buldeo Rai participated in a MOOC (part « Updates in city logistics ») entitled « Sustainable Urban Freight Transport: A Global Perspective » for TU Delft.
Laetitia Dablanc and Heleen Buldeo Rai published a scientific article, with Adeline Heitz and Diana Diziain, in the journal Transport Policy on urban logistics during COVID-19.
Heleen Buldeo Rai contributed to the elaboration of the INTERLUD program sheets, in particular a brief on « reverse logistics » (in French).
Urban logistics policies, new logistics data collection methods
Laetitia Dablanc participated on April 12, 2022 in the CALTRANS Sustainable Freight Academy training seminar: presentation available on the Chair’s website.
New methods of data collection on logistics mobility available to local authorities: presentation in the FastTrack project of the CIVITAS network, link to our website.
Gig workers for on-demand instant delivery platforms
Laetitia Dablanc published an article in the newspaper Le Monde on the professional elections of gig delivery drivers on April 27, 2022 (in French).
The fifth series of surveys on gig delivery workers in Paris was published, with the collaboration of 6t-research office. The report can be downloaded here (in French).
Interventions in institutional bodies and in the media
Matthieu Schorung gave a presentation to elected officials and municipal technical staff of the city of Antony on current issues in urban logistics, on April 12, 2022 (in French).
Publication of an information report by the French Senate’s Sustainable Development Commission, produced by Senators Martine Filleul and Christine Herzog, for which Laetitia Dablanc had been auditioned on behalf of the Logistics City Chair (in French)
Interventions of the Chair in the media: France Culture, May 20, 2022, Fréquence Protestante, May 19, 2022, France Info, May 9, 2022, Le Monde, April 27, 2022, Capital, April 15, 2022, Radio Bleue Paris, March 21, 2022, France Inter, March 19, 2022.
Scientific publications
Dablanc, L. (forthcoming) Land use planning for a sustainable urban freight. Chapter 3.1 in Handbook on City Logistics and Urban Freight, Elsevier.
Buldeo Rai, H. & Dablanc, L. (2022) Hunting for treasure: a systematic literature review on urban logistics and e-commerce data, Transport Reviews.
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.
Dablanc, L., Heitz, A., Buldeo Rai, H. & Diziain, D., (2022) Differentiated responses to COVID-19: an analysis from three surveys in France, and policy implications, Transport Policy.
Dablanc, L. (2022) The COVID pandemic and urban freight. Chapter 8 in Impacts of COVID pandemic on transport and mobility, Elsevier.
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.
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.
Schorung, M., Lecourt T. (2021) Analysis of the spatial logics of Amazon warehouses following a multiscalar and temporal approach. For a geography of Amazon’s logistics system in the United States, Research Report, Chaire Logistics City, University Gustave Eiffel, online.
For more news and information, visit our website: https://www.lvmt.fr/en/chaires/logistics-city/.
You can also follow us on Twitter and on LinkedIn.
Laetitia Dablanc, Chair Director, laetitia.dablanc@univ-eiffel.fr
Heleen Buldeo Rai, post-doctoral fellow of the Chair, heleen.buldeo-rai@univ-eiffel.fr
Matthieu Schorung, post-doctoral fellow of the Chair, matthieu.schorung@univ-eiffel.fr