Logistics activities organize and manage the flow of goods between the various links in the economic system, from production sites to consumption sites, with the aim of optimizing lead times and costs. This chapter presents the contemporary dynamics of logistics urbanization corresponding to the different activities and logistics sites in urban and suburban areas. Based on the case of the Ile-de-France region, it highlights a phenomenon of dualization in the production of metropolitan logistics spaces and gathers evidence indicating the generalization of this phenomenon in many urban regions. Based on a review and perspective of the growing body of work on logistics urbanization, the chapter successively examines the logistics development of (outer-) suburbs, that of urban logistics in the centers and, finally, the persistence of intermediate logistics in the former industrial suburbs.

Logistics activities organize and manage the flow of goods between the various links in the economic system, from production sites to consumption sites, with the aim of optimizing lead times and costs. This chapter presents the contemporary dynamics of logistics urbanization corresponding to the different activities and logistics sites in urban and suburban areas. Based on the case of the Ile-de-France region, it highlights a phenomenon of dualization in the production of metropolitan logistics spaces and gathers evidence indicating the generalization of this phenomenon in many urban regions. Based on a review and perspective of the growing body of work on logistics urbanization, the chapter successively examines the logistics development of (outer-) suburbs, that of urban logistics in the centers and, finally, the persistence of intermediate logistics in the former industrial suburbs.