Compact Logistics: Equitable Spatial Planning For Urban Freight

Abstract

Despite ample research related to the implications of e-commerce for last-mile logistics and environmental sustainability, there is limited research evaluating residential delivery using an equity lens. This dissertation investigates how e-commerce, logistics sprawl, and zoning policies shape racial disparities in urban residential delivery and how spatial planning can reconfigure these systems toward more equitable, compact logistics (CL). Chapter 2 defines equity in freight, identifies freight’s distributive spheres—environment and health, accessibility, and labor—and illustrates how conflicts in one create injustices in another. Chapter 3 maps e-commerce and logistics sprawl, identifying factors that influence the siting and expansion of last-mile delivery facilities. Chapter 4 employs activity-based modeling and residential freight trip generation (RFTG) techniques and finds robust evidence of spatial racial disparities in 41 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs): populations of color (POC) are exposed to roughly 35% more cargo van traffic than White populations on average, despite ordering less than half as many packages. Chapter 5 extends this analysis by adding truck flows and external cost estimates. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), the analysis finds that racial disparities in externalities are partially attributable to a spatial mismatch in delivery supply and demand. A one-mile reduction in mean last-mile distance is indirectly associated with a 1.9% decrease in externality disparities. Chapter 6 investigates 92 warehouse and distribution center (W&D) related zoning actions and their role as tools—or barriers—for equitably mitigating environmental impacts and enabling CL. The dissertation concludes that spatial equity alone is insufficient without addressing deeper questions of justice. It proposes a research agenda for planners that follows the goods up (i.e., meet freight-burdened communities near intensive warehousing), prioritizes local accessibility and community benefits, promotes a Just Transition, and partners with communities.