Supply Chain Frontiers issue #50
The Megacity Logistics Lab presented the initial results of a major project to create an atlas of logistics demands in large urban areas in a special presentation at MIT on July 24, 2013.
An MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT CTL) research initiative, the Lab is headed by MIT CTL Research Director Dr. Edgar Blanco.
The Megacity Logistics Lab focuses on understanding and transforming the supply chains that interface with large urban centers. As cities continue to grow in population and size, there is increasing demand from urban dwellers for goods and services. Policy makers and logistics managers need detailed and context-specific information on the patterns of logistics intensity in large urban areas. This is especially important in the developing world because of rapid growth rates.
During the summer of 2013, the lab held its first Summer Study project, a 12-week research study that brought together 22 students from MIT and universities around the world. The students worked together to build the foundation of the first global urban logistics atlas to inform the significant gap in information for policy makers and logistic planners.
They collected a rich set of data on metrics such as the layout of stores, roads, and freight traffic within a square kilometer area in eight different megacities across the globe: Mexico City, Kuala Lumpur, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, Beijing, Santiago de Chile, and Bogotá.
The data for each city has been made freely available on the Last Mile website, and can be used for comparison with other urban structures around the world. This project will continue to expand the scope of its data as well as the number of cities in the coming years.
The study was sponsored by the MIT SCALE Network, MISTI (MIT-Chile & MIT-Brasil), ITESM Campus Santa Fé (Mexico) and the MIT UROP Office.
For more information on the research and the Megacity Logistics Lab contact Dr. Edgar Blanco.