INTERIORIZATION OF PORT ACTIVITIES

2017 Landscape Strategies Laboratory University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Team: Grant Penfield Haugen, Conor O’Shea, Zoey Wang Role: Full-Time Summer Research Assistant 

This project researches North American inland ports and their adjacent warehousing districts. 

With the continued growth of the U.S. population and increases in freight traffic, intermodal facilities, with their adjacent warehouses and third party logistic providers, have become the de facto method of increasing efficiency and decreasing costs across the entire spectrum of supply chain operations, from factory to consumer. One type of intermodal freight facility, the inland port, continues being pushed into the former hinterland of North American cities, generating aesthetically dull and ecologically inert developments. My role included researching mobility and logistics trends in the American Midwest, developing methodologies for the redefining the term “logistical ecologies,” and strategizing ways to mitigate the harmful consequences of inland port development. Outcomes over the assistantship included organizing a site visit  at an inland port for field research, lecturing on “Logistical Strategies” at the Landscape, Health & Healing Symposium, and developing the framework for a handbook that promotes best practices for inland port and warehouse development.