Logistics sprawl in Los Angeles
Résumé
'Logistics sprawl' is the spatial deconcentration of logistics facilities and distribution centers in metropolitan areas. It has been a dominant spatial pattern for the last decades in metropolitan areas of developed countries. Starting in the 1980s, the U.S. and many other parts of the world entered a 'new distribution economy' (Hesse and Rodrigue, 2004), an economy largely dependent upon efficient and increasingly globalized networks of goods distribution and just-in-time operations. This has led to a reduction in large inventories of intermediate and final products, but also to a concomitant rise in hub distribution centers: global supply chains require more logistics facilities, and the way these facilities are spatially organized has become a key feature of an efficient goods distribution network. This paper looks at logistics sprawl issues primarily in Los Angeles, as well as in Atlanta, and the way local governments face them.