As part of the ongoing observatory of issues affecting urban logistics the CityLab project identified some of the most important trends in e-commerce, ‘instant’ deliveries, logistics land use and urban sprawl. The report is available at their website.
Major findings are:
- Logistics land uses, logistics real estate, and logistics sprawl, which is the spatial deconcentration of logistics facilities and distribution centres in metropolitan areas. Warehouses tend to relocate to outer suburban areas with good access to highway interchanges, large available land space, affordable rents, and access to employees.
- E-commerce, e-grocery, and instant deliveries (on-demand delivery service within two hours). E-commerce adds hundreds of thousands of deliveries in urban areas every day. The development of instant deliveries is based on the use of mobile apps which connect couriers – individuals, self-contractors or employees – to shippers and consumers.
- There is a potential unfair competition from on-demand transport services and instant delivery apps. There is a need for adjusting labour laws to adapt to rising on-demand transport services.
The full version of the report is available online at www.citylab-project.eu/ deliverables/D2_1.pdf.