From regional planning to port regionalization and urban logistics. The inland port and the governance of logistics development in the Paris region

Abstract

Large urban regions are the main logistics markets. They concentrate warehouses, distribution centres and terminals in numerous logistics zones; they polarize thus regional, national and international flows. Some of these logistics facilities correspond to inland ports directly connected to seaport(s) with high capacity transport mean(s) either via rail, road or inland waterways. Their development results from the dynamic of port regionalization, which is characterised by seaports becoming integral parts of extensive hinterland networks, intermodal transport corridors and inland ports. Therefore, in city-regions, inland ports are part of larger logistics systems associating diverse logistics facilities and zones. The ways inland ports are governed, planned and owned must thus be understood in connection with the governance of the diverse logistics spaces at the metropolitan scale, including transport infrastructure and land use planning. Research has documented the very fragmented politics of logistics zones and the limited scope of spatial planning dedicated to logistics facilities and activities. The specific role and importance of the governance of inland ports within urban and regional governance arrangements framing and supporting logistics development is still unclear. In order to contribute to a systematic urban and regional approach of the connection between the governance of logistics development and the governance of inland ports in urban regions, the paper empirically analyses the inclusion of inland port spaces and institutions within Parisian metropolitan logistics strategies. Based on a qualitative methodology (policy documents and semi-structured interviews), it shows that inland port spaces and institutions take part in every metropolitan logistics policies. They constitute one of the few policy tools for both implementing regional planning and developing urban logistics sites in order to spatially (re)organize logistics facilities and activities. At the same time, inland port infrastructures are identified as strategic assets for a metropolitan agenda of economic competiveness, aiming at increasing port regionalization. In this perspective, inland port institutions contribute to the metropolitan governability vis-à-vis logistics issues but, finally, do not permit to regulate logistics sprawl.