This month, MetroFreight published new research by Laetitia Dablanc and Adeline Heitz of the French Institute of Science and Technology for Transport, Spatial Planning, Development and Networks (IFSTTAR) at the Université Paris-Est. Their report, Logistics Spatial Patterns in Paris: The Rise of the Paris Basin as a Logistics Megaregion, builds upon prior IFSTTAR research exploring the spatial growth of the freight and logistics sector in Île-de-France and the larger Paris basin.

Dablanc and Heitz contextualize their research with the observation that Île-de-France, a region with a population of 12.1 million and where 10% of all jobs are in the transportation and logistics sector, contains 18 million sq. meters (190 million sq. feet) of warehouse space or approximately 20% of France’s entire warehouse floor area. Between 2000 and 2012 the number of warehouses here rose by 33%, and this new research seeks to explore if that trend represents “logistics sprawl.”

Dablanc and Heitz’ research used SIRENE data from the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) to identify warehouse firms throughout the Paris Basin, which was then geolocated by municipality. Whereas prior research from IFSTTAR analyzed only spatial changes in the parcel delivery and express mail sector of the Paris Basin, Dablanc, and Heitz’ new work is a comprehensive study of all warehouse and freight centers.

Spatial analysis of 2000 and 2012 data revealed two patterns. First, logistics clusters in the metropolitan area of Paris had measurably disintegrated over those 12 years, as mean distance from warehouses to the regional center of gravity grew at a rate outpacing that of population. Second, new clusters of logistics warehouses grew in the urban periphery, often in suburbs where they had never been seen before. In fact, for the greater Paris Basin, mean distance to the center of gravity had decreased significantly.

These dual findings can be seen as indications that logistics sprawl is indeed occurring. Dablanc and Heitz theorize that the centripetal forces of metropolization and the centrifugal forces of mobility and land cost are contributing to the “dispersion and sprawling of activities into the suburbs, making the already unclear boundaries of the metropolis increasingly uncertain.” They conclude their report with a remark that the “megaregional scale” warrants more attention as a spatial scale. Certainly, the logistics sector in greater Paris is a megaregional system.

This research, MetroFreight project 14-4.1d, was published in Transportation Research Record: The Journal of the Transportation Research Board Volume 2477 (2015).

The full report can be found here.

Dablanc and Heitz

Dr. Laetitia Dablanc is the Director of Research at IFSTTAR at the Université Paris-Est.  Adeline Heitz is a Ph.D. candidate at the Université Paris-Est. Her doctoral candidacy is supervised by Dr. Lablanc and by Dr. J. Debrie of the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.  Both Dr. Dablanc and Heitz were the P.I.s for this research. They can be reached at:

IFSTTAR- SPLOTT

Université Paris-Est

14-20 Bd Newton, Marne-la-Vallée, 77447 Cedex

Email: [email protected]; [email protected]

Griffin Kantz

Griffin is a third year undergraduate studying Sustainable Planning in the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. He can be reached at [email protected].