Program: Urban strategic design, Scenario planning
Location: Antwerp, Belgian
Period: 2013-2014
ANTWERP URBAN LOGISTICS
Today logistics as an emerging industry increased dramatically along with the globalization during last century. Carbon Added Tax (CAT), as an economic instrument was raised to reduce CO2 emission. It will lead to the reorganization of urban resources ranging from energy supply to traffic system, transformation in human lifestyles to consumption habits. Based on these precondition above, the project used CAT as a departure to discuss the shifts of logistics system and took Antwerp as an example to envision how these effects reshape our urban landscape.
The thesis starts with the analysis of how Carbon Add Tax changes logistics activities from globe to urban scale in different aspects. Given Carbon Added Tax scenario, logistics will become more consolidated and shared. Hence, a compact logistics model is proposed for Antwerp, based on an intermodal transportation network and the creation of different scales logistics facilities to serve for both distribution and recycling. It is not a fixed system but open to different urban conditions. The goal is not to merely solve the current logistic problems of Antwerp but to articulate urban environments for logistics activities coexisting with urban life in common space, which triggers more social dynamics at different scales.
