As Fernand Braudel noticed, port-cities have always been affected by globalisation. Since the end of the 1960’s, the last phase in this process is due to the introduction of containers in the goods transport system. Besides the economies of scale this standardized packaging has generated, the consequences of containerization are substantial, since it has in particular defined new functional perimeters, called “port regions”. This paper examines in particular a case study located in Europe in the heart of the Northern Range : the port region formed by Rotterdam, Antwerp and Zeebrugge in the Rhine-Scheldt Delta. In this case, the regionalization process is based on proximity, bipolarity and interdependence. But the aim of the paper is also to provide an understanding of these changes. Actually port regionalization can be seen as the solution that major international actors in the port terminal industry (at a global level) have found to develop their activity in a tense context (at a local level). They try to develop new regional strategies for their terminal networks to take advantage of each port’s assets (in terms of technical, functional and commercial capabilities) and get over local impediments (such as the rise of environmental standards and the challenge of non-port development strategies). The paper concludes by discussing some main issues for this port region in the future, especially in terms of public governance.
Is sustainability a driving force for local planners when they deal with freight transport activities? It seems that the answer, so far, is no. It is true that the issue of sustainable development is now being addressed in long term transport planning strategies such as urban mobility master plans. Also, some successful city logistic experiments have been implemented in European cities. However, beyond these projects which are limited in scope and number, the actual daily activity of cities regarding freight has proved very limited, especially in a sustainable development point of view. In this research, I have evaluated these policies on the most mundane level possible: by looking at municipal ordinances on truck traffic and parking. In France, these ordinances are, for the most part, incoherent and poorly enforced. More surprisingly, environmental considerations (particularly on urban air quality) are missing from the motives on which a municipal truck traffic ordinance is based. A detailed analysis of court decisions regarding truck traffic in cities has confirmed that environmental issues do not constitute a strong cause of debate and/or dispute in French cities. On the whole, there are little legal innovations in French local governments’ activities regarding freight transport. This is all the more surprising that the legal framework on environment and sustainable development is quite important now, especially on issues such as air pollution, of which freight transport […]
After the identification of the richest and the poorest districts of Lyon urban area, the implementation of accessibility indicators to the average structure of a basket of goods, interrogates about the plurality and the social reproduction of inequalities. A first “gap” between the access to transportation modes returns account of chances inequality to profit from the amenities of an urban area. A retrospective on the evolution of the amenities' localisation between 1990 and 1999 highlight the digging of the inequalities between the richest and the poorest districts, which a drastic increase of public transport supply struggles to reduce. The chances inequalities between the richest and the poorest districts are all the more pronounced, that the access to a private car is weak in the poorest districts.
The aim of this paper is, through two case studies about the city of Nantes which has experienced major changes in transport infrastructure since 1985, and by means of two methodological approaches, to explore the relationship, first between the implementation of an orbital motorway and urban sprawl, and then between the realization of light rail infrastructure and urban renewal. Two approaches are used in the study, based on comparisons before/after and the use of regression models. Results show a clear shift in the spatial distribution of sprawl although it does not much affect spatial organisation of the whole city. It also appears that although the density of newly built dwellings is higher in light rail corridors, it is not possible to assess a specific impact of light rail lines when not built along major radial urban roads. The impact of light rail on urban spatial structure seems so to be very small.
The sale of movables involve very often a transport whose the seller or the buyer can directly take care, at the risk of supporting the loss of the commodity. But, the sale's parties can choose to give the commodity to a road carrier. In that case, given that the risk of the journey is easily transfered to the road haulier through the transport contract features, the service cost item becomes very important. The overdevelopment of that item partially explains the hard working conditions of the carrier's truckers.