Logistics-led urbanizations. The case of food distribution centers in Italy

Over the past decade, Large-Scale Retail companies have deeply redefined the structure of food distribution logistics. One of the main spaces within which this transformation has taken place has been food Distribution Centers (DCs), which are large warehouses used to serve the store network. Despite their widespread and increasing relevance in the contemporary Italian and European urban landscapes, the literature that has dealt with these spaces so far has failed to address their impact on the territories where they are located, not only in social and environmental terms but also, and especially, in relation to the new forms of urbanizations they generate. This contribution highlights how these new logistics-led urbanizations have now determined a new urban condition that requires new attention from policies and projects. The latter cannot operate within the physical confines of DCs. Instead, some transitional spaces have been identified where the fluidity and efficiency of the logistics process intersect and collide with other functions unrelated to the process itself - thereby generating some frictions and upheavals. New projects that engage a plurality of urban features, actors, and economies can be envisioned in these spaces. The paper recounts some outcomes of field research conducted since 2020 on the Italian national territory.