Chairs: Mark Wilson (Michigan State University, USA), Simonetta Armondi and Stefano Di Vita (Politecnico di Milano)
Type: in person
Since the rise of global supply chains, large urban regions concentrate warehouses, distribution centers, and terminals in numerous logistics zones; thus, just like operational geographies, they polarize regional, national, and international flows. Some of these logistics facilities correspond to inland ports directly connected to port cities, extending and reconceptualizing the geographical notion of the intersection between land and sea. Others are connected to huge ongoing investments in the intensive improvement of existing seaport venues as main nodes of long transport infrastructures. In both, their development results from dynamics of port regionalization, which are characterized by seaports becoming integral parts of extensive hinterland networks, intermodal transport corridors, and inland ports.
The ways seaports and inland ports are governed, planned, owned, and relate to each other can be disruptive forces that must be understood in terms of the governance of both the port urban regions and the diverse logistics spaces at the regional, national, and international scales, including transport infrastructure programs and land use planning. In order to contribute to a systematic urban and regional investigation of the connection between spatial change and the new geography of port urban regions, this session welcomes papers focused on the inclusion/exclusion of inland ports and seaports within regional and urban strategies, probing the following issues:
• Inland port/seaport policy tools for both implementing urban regional planning and developing sustainable logistics sites.
• Infrastructures and intermodal options identified as strategic assets for an urban agenda aiming at increasing port regionalization.
• Green port strategies, sustainable transition policies, land use implications, and their effects on spatial justice between port hubs and urban regions.
• Brownfield regeneration and spatial reconnections between inland ports/seaports and their port urban regions, activating multiple actors, scales, narratives, and planning strategies and mechanisms.
Keywords: ports, supply chains, logistics, urban and regional development, economic impact