Freight Distribution Centres, Freight Clusters and Logistics Parks

This chapter presents an overview of distribution centres (DCs) and freight clusters or logistics parks, which have emerged in response to the increasing spatial division of labour of the international economy, and as a consequence of the integrated management of today’s increasingly complex supply chains. The chapter aims at reconstructing the rationale of their development and presenting their main characteristics from both the users’ perspective and, particularly, in territorial terms. Consequently, it emphasizes the broader geographical distribution of freight facilities, problems of urban and regional integration and related challenges for policy and planning. The empirical focus of the chapter is on developments in Western Europe and North America. Against the background of the historical role that transport, trade and freight handling have played in an urban context, the chapter also raises some theoretical questions on the nature of such changes and their more general consequences for towns and urban regions.