ARTICLE IN PRESS Journal of Transport Geography xxx (2009)xxx-xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Transport Geography Journal of Transport Geography ELSEVIER journal homepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/jtrangeo Global city regions and the location of logistics activity Kevin O'Connor* University of Melbourne,Faculty of Architecture,Building and Planning.Grattan Street,Melbourne,Victoria 3010.Australia ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: The aim of this paper is to extend and develop research surrounding the links between transport and Logistics urban regions.An understanding of transport activity has long involved the use of spatial frameworks. Air freight seen in the idea of a gateway city(with its surrounding hinterland)and in the identification of hubs or Sea freight nodes.The particular framework used here is the global city region,a build-out from the much Global city regions Airports researched global city,and acknowledged as the most prominent feature of spatial development in the Container ports global economy.As these areas can accommodate important sea and airport infrastructure,the global city Regional strategic plans region can be expected to play a significant role in global logistics.Whether that significance extends just from the physical realm,as reflected in the infrastructure,or whether it is embedded in the scale and complexity of the advanced business services sector within the global city,is the issue that lies at the heart of the research.The research has set out to answer the question:"How important are these regions in logistics activity?".The question has relevance in the context of transport geography as it provides an urban structure perspective on what is commonly seen as separate port or airport activity.Its relevance is enhanced as its answer relies upon a simultaneous analysis of both sea and air freight activity.Results show these regions counted for a substantial and growing share of sea and air freight between 1996 and 2006.In accounting for that outcome the research explores the particular effect of infrastructure (showing that global city regions with multiple seaport and airports play a special role)and also isolates the links with global city functions.The paper concludes with some insight on the special challenge these places create for strategic urban planning policy. 2009 Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved. 1.Logistics activity and global city regions The interpretation and use of the concept of global city was ex- panded once the areas surrounding the global city were acknowl- The approach to understanding global logistics in this research edged as globally integrated along with the city core.Scott is built upon the importance of global cities and the extended area (1998,p.7)argued that integration could be seen in the way the surrounding them,which have come to be called global city re- production systems of both manufacturing and services in these gions.The concept of a global city has been debated and analysed areas were tied together through globally organized interconnec- over an extended period,spanning the time between some initial tivity of component and finished good production.That confirmed ideas expressed by Friedmann(1986).articulated and developed earlier observations of Muller(1997)concerning the global links of by Sassen(1991,1994)and analysed in extensive detail by the pro- suburban areas and was illustrated in case studies of Philadelphia ject associated with the Global and World City project at Loughbor- (Hodos,2002)and Melbourne (O'Connor,2002).Scott saw these ough (for example see Beaverstock et al.(2000)).The essence of spatial units as a part of a"global mosaic of development"and with this perspective is that the global economy can be represented in colleagues later labeled them "global city regions"(Scott et al.. flows or linkages,which are concentrated in some particular cities 2001).Later he defined them as"enormous expanses of contiguous and reflected in employment in advanced business or producer or semi contiguous built-up space...surrounded by hinterlands of services which are located in office buildings in and around their variable extent(and)marked by ramifying local institutions and an core.In turn too this concept recognizes a hierarchy,with a small increasingly distinctive political identity,and,concomitantly,by a number of dominant places,and a larger number of other locations growing self-assertiveness on the global stage"(Scott 2008,p.131). whose influence will be felt just in some parts of the globe,or in These regions spill over 50-70 km from the central city,and make some particular activities up the vast urban regions that can be seen from the air as clusters of light in parts of the US,Europe and Asia(Beaverstock et al. *Tel:+61383447474:fax:+61383445532 2000)and elsewhere (Angel et al,2008).They have also been E-mail address:kevin.oconnor@unimelb.edu.au labeled "100 Mile Cities"by Sudjic (1992)."mega city"Lo and 0966-6923/-see front matter009 Elsevier Ltd.All rights reserved. doi:10.1016 jjtrangeo.2009.06.015 Please cite this article in press as:O'Connor.K.Global city regions and the location of logistics activity.J.Transp.Geogr.(2009).doi:10.1016/ j.jtrangeo.2009.06.015Global city regions and the location of logistics activity Kevin O’Connor * University of Melbourne, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, Grattan Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia article info Keywords: Logistics Air freight Sea freight Global city regions Airports Container ports Regional strategic plans abstract The aim of this paper is to extend and develop research surrounding the links between transport and urban regions. An understanding of transport activity has long involved the use of spatial frameworks, seen in the idea of a gateway city (with its surrounding hinterland) and in the identification of hubs or nodes. The particular framework used here is the global city region, a build-out from the much researched global city, and acknowledged as the most prominent feature of spatial development in the global economy. As these areas can accommodate important sea and airport infrastructure, the global city region can be expected to play a significant role in global logistics. Whether that significance extends just from the physical realm, as reflected in the infrastructure, or whether it is embedded in the scale and complexity of the advanced business services sector within the global city, is the issue that lies at the heart of the research. The research has set out to answer the question: ‘‘How important are these regions in logistics activity?”. The question has relevance in the context of transport geography as it provides an urban structure perspective on what is commonly seen as separate port or airport activity. Its relevance is enhanced as its answer relies upon a simultaneous analysis of both sea and air freight activity. Results show these regions counted for a substantial and growing share of sea and air freight between 1996 and 2006. In accounting for that outcome the research explores the particular effect of infrastructure (showing that global city regions with multiple seaport and airports play a special role) and also isolates the links with global city functions. The paper concludes with some insight on the special challenge these places create for strategic urban planning policy. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Logistics activity and global city regions The approach to understanding global logistics in this research is built upon the importance of global cities and the extended area surrounding them, which have come to be called global city re￾gions. The concept of a global city has been debated and analysed over an extended period, spanning the time between some initial ideas expressed by Friedmann (1986), articulated and developed by Sassen (1991, 1994) and analysed in extensive detail by the pro￾ject associated with the Global and World City project at Loughbor￾ough (for example see Beaverstock et al. (2000)). The essence of this perspective is that the global economy can be represented in flows or linkages, which are concentrated in some particular cities and reflected in employment in advanced business or producer services which are located in office buildings in and around their core. In turn too this concept recognizes a hierarchy, with a small number of dominant places, and a larger number of other locations whose influence will be felt just in some parts of the globe, or in some particular activities. The interpretation and use of the concept of global city was ex￾panded once the areas surrounding the global city were acknowl￾edged as globally integrated along with the city core. Scott (1998, p. 7) argued that integration could be seen in the way the production systems of both manufacturing and services in these areas were tied together through globally organized interconnec￾tivity of component and finished good production. That confirmed earlier observations of Muller (1997) concerning the global links of suburban areas and was illustrated in case studies of Philadelphia (Hodos, 2002) and Melbourne (O’Connor, 2002). Scott saw these spatial units as a part of a ‘‘global mosaic of development” and with colleagues later labeled them ‘‘global city regions” (Scott et al., 2001). Later he defined them as ‘‘enormous expanses of contiguous or semi contiguous built-up space... surrounded by hinterlands of variable extent (and) marked by ramifying local institutions and an increasingly distinctive political identity, and, concomitantly, by a growing self-assertiveness on the global stage” (Scott 2008, p. 131). These regions spill over 50–70 km from the central city, and make up the vast urban regions that can be seen from the air as clusters of light in parts of the US, Europe and Asia (Beaverstock et al., 2000) and elsewhere (Angel et al., 2008). They have also been labeled ‘‘100 Mile Cities” by Sudjic (1992), ‘‘mega city” Lo and 0966-6923/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2009.06.015 * Tel.: +613 8344 7474; fax: +613 8344 5532. E-mail address: kevin.oconnor@unimelb.edu.au Journal of Transport Geography xxx (2009) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Transport Geography journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jtrangeo ARTICLE IN PRESS Please cite this article in press as: O’Connor, K. Global city regions and the location of logistics activity. J. Transp. Geogr. (2009), doi:10.1016/ j.jtrangeo.2009.06.015