Logistics: The forgotten foundation of urban design and planning

More than 100 people joined this webinar on logistics; its objective was to explore the implications of accommodating contemporary logistics facilities in new design guidance.

Robert Huxford began with a historic perspective on how urban design has been dominated by the requirements of increasingly large logistics vehicles, and the need to rebalance road design for a broader range of users in the forthcoming Manual for Streets. Ian Brooker and Chris Douglas (Jacobs and WSP respectively) presented innovative technologies for revolutionising street design for more sustainable use. Hannah Smart (Edge Urban Design) and Gary Young (Place 54 Architects) presented alternative local, bottom-up visions of how to incorporate localised distribution hubs. Waste management was also included, and David Milner (Create Streets) joined the discussion.

This event was very successful as Amanda Reynolds, a lively chair, involved participants throughout the presentations. The chat also provided a great source of ideas, examples and references.

The highlights were the large number of practical and pragmatic solutions put into practice during the pandemic to accommodate greater logistics activities under very constrained conditions. Speakers showed how both high and low tech solutions were implemented even before the pandemic, strategically in large cities, at the neighbourhood level and in different environments. Creating local logistics neighbourhood hubs involved local volunteers, but there was also recognition of existing roles like convenience shops, which provide space for collection, or the need to revive similar functions, held by sub-post offices in the past.

The proposals put forward were with the awareness that, for example, communal bins needed communal behaviour, allocating parking spaces for more communal uses would encounter resistance, and current statutory rules for the use of the public realm may restrict such alternatives. Nevertheless, the belief was voiced that we can create the future, and do not have to just accept it.

Selected references from the chat:

• Robot system in Milton Keynes
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• Underground delivery in Kings Cross London
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• Neighbourhood logistics hubs
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• Volunteer engagement in hubs
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• Initiatives in Cork city
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• Smaller vehicles for waste collection, mobility hub guidance
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• Combining delivery with other sustainable activities
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Judith Ryser, researcher, journalist, writer and urban affairs consultant to Fundacion Metropoli, Madrid