Urban Distribution Centers: concept and issues

M archandise in the city: an obligation to act.

Urban logistics, a component still poorly understood by local authorities, will nevertheless play a central role in local public policies.

On the one hand, because local authorities, in a context of densification of the urban fabric and multiple, competing uses, have not succeeded in curbing congestion, despite the retreat of the "all-car" approach.

Secondly, because local authorities are facing an environmental emergency that they are slow to address. The contribution of the goods vehicle fleet to pollutant emissions puts logistics activity at the heart of the debate on restricting access to the city.

Secondly, because city dwellers have become "consonauts", and the criticisms levelled at logistics (congestion, pollution, noise) are in reality simply the choice of the end customer, who wants home delivery in an ever-shorter timeframe. Added to this is the recent but fast-growing trend for private individuals to become shippers of goods by taking back purchases made on the Internet and selling second-hand items on networks such as E-Bay, Le Bon Coin...

In the absence of a genuine public policy on goods mobility, physical locations for delivery vehicles - in other words, traffic and parking management - and land allocated to logistics in city centers to handle goods, the urban distribution service will become untenable.