Sustainable Distribution Organization Based on the Supply–Demand Coordination in Large Chinese Cities

Sijing Liu,Guoqi Li,Jiuping Xu,Xiaoyuan Shi,Dinglong Liu

doi:10.3390/su10093042

Abstract

In large Chinese cities, inefficient logistics organization, a rapid increase in freight demand, and the spreading of city logistics space have jointly contributed to the urban problems related to goods movement, such as spatial conflicts, traffic congestion, and air pollution. To address these problems and improve urban sustainability, we proposed a new spatial organization model of supply–demand coordination. We used the data from the Third China Economic Census and online point-of-interest (POI) for China’s four direct-controlled municipalities and 13 sub-provincial cities. We found that: (1) the freight supply and demand in China’s large cities are both spatially decentralized and clustered. However, there is a significant spatial mismatch between freight supply and demand in most of the studied cities. (2) The 17 studied cities can be divided into three types—highly unbalanced, unbalanced, and balanced—in light of the spatial mismatch between freight supply and demand. (3) The capacities of road surface and logistics nodes spatially differ. The supply capacity of the road systems in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou can only accommodate 18.4%, 35.5%, and 32.2% of the demand, respectively, while the supply capacity of the logistics nodes is more than twice that of the actual demand in these cities. Based on the findings, this paper proposed a differentiated method of demand management in different areas of the cities. To achieve the goals of low-carbon and sustainable development in logistics distribution, policy makers may consider planning urban freight activities along metro lines and intercity rail lines. Thus, this paper will provide a new perspective for understanding the urban freight distribution and management in large Chinese cities.

Highlights

Goods in cities are generally delivered in small batches, at multiple frequencies, and within a very limited time
After considering the influence of various factors and complex internal relations between supply and demand, analogy methods are used to estimate the city distribution demand and supply; (2) this paper has revealed the spatial pattern of supply and demand space in differentiated areas of different cities, which can help illuminate the influence of spatial structure and its differences on the design of city distribution management mode [16]; (3) the authors took into consideration the efficient rail transportation system, the relatively concentrated distribution demands in large Chinese cities, and proposed sustainable
Under the multiple constraints of population, resources, and the environment, the issue of sustainable development in big cities has received widespread attention, which is inevitably influenced by important factors such as the equilibrium of economic development, social welfare, resource consumption, environmental pollution, and governance

Summary

Introduction

Goods in cities are generally delivered in small batches, at multiple frequencies, and within a very limited time. In which an increasing number of logistics enterprises and facilities concentrate, generally serve as the gateway and hub and become the core of distribution organization and management [3,4,5]. In metropolis cities such as London and Paris, the volumes of goods generated by city distribution account for a quarter of those cities’ traffic volumes, about 20% to 30% of vehicle kilometers [1]. The insufficient planning of city logistics space makes it difficult to deal with the “last mile” distribution [6,7,8,9]

Methods

Results

Conclusion