Distribution Centers among the Rooftops: The Global Logistics Network Meets the Suburban Spatial Imaginary

Changes in shipping over recent decades have altered the geography of freighttransportation in the USA in a number of ways. In particular, significant volumes offreight traffic are now traveling inland to the Ohio River valley and the Midwest. Withinmetropolitan areas here, large amounts of land on the suburban fringe are beingdeveloped as logistics or distribution centers in municipalities that are experiencingotherwise typical greenfield suburban growth. This article explores this developmentthrough a case study in the southwest suburbs of Chicago that are experiencing rapidgrowth in both population and freight distribution activity. Here, in a so-called globalera of placeless flows, land use and economic development continue to be based largelyon a spatial imaginary of bounded and discrete territories, with long-term environmentaland economic consequences for the political units in question.

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