A multiscalar and comparative analysis of warehousing development patterns and logistics sprawl in four metropolitan areas: Dallas, Houston (Texas Triangle) New York and Philadelphia (Northeast corridor)

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This paper evaluates whether or not there a sprawling phenomenon to the spatial patterns of warehouse establishments in the four metropolitan areas (Dallas, Houston, New York and Philadelphia). The trend of warehouses to move away from the urban centers to more suburban and exurban areas is referred to “logistics sprawl”. To understand and analyze this logistics sprawl, the logistics establishments data (from the County Business Pattern survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau) were collected and mapped for two years (2012 and 2019). The standard deviational ellipse area from the barycenter for all warehousing establishments was calculated and compared between the years of 2012 and 2019. This shows that logistics sprawl is experienced by warehouses strongly in the Dallas and the Houston areas, quite strongly in the Philadelphia area, but not in the New York area. This paper discusses if logistics sprawl is a global trend by comparing these results to previous works on logistics sprawl. This paper contributes to the existing literature because it provides a comparative and multiscalar analysis of these four metropolitan areas and two megaregions (Texas Triangle and Northeast Corridor).