LAST MILE URBANISM: The spatial consequences of convenience

2021 — ONGOING Team: Conor O’Shea Hinterlands

Project Location: Chicago, IL, USA

This project traces the spatial consequences of convenience, revealing last-mile logistics as one of the defining urban infrastructures of contemporary life.

Last Mile Urbanism examines how one-click delivery is giving rise to a new type of urban neighbor: the last-mile logistics facility. Developed with Conor O’Shea of Hinterlands Urbanism & Landscape, the project studies Amazon’s evolving footprint in Chicago through three sites: Goose Island, Pullman, and Bridgeport. Together, they trace a shift from discreet adaptive reuse to larger, more public-facing facilities where questions of traffic, labor, air quality, landscape, zoning, and neighborhood impact become impossible to ignore. Through field visits, site photography, mapping, and case study research, the project frames last-mile logistics as a new urban real estate typology, one that must coexist socially and environmentally with the city rather than simply deliver through it.

Full case study forthcoming.

Site Comparisons

These three logistics sites show how last-mile infrastructure occupies different urban conditions across Chicago: rail-adjacent industrial land, inner-city infill, and edge-condition redevelopment. Read together, they frame Amazon’s delivery network as a spatial system, not just a fulfillment service.

Field Notes, October 2021

On-site observations documenting how last-mile logistics meets the city at ground level: blank warehouse edges, oversized curb cuts, delivery fleets, sidewalks, fencing, signage, and the uneasy proximity between residential life and distribution infrastructure.