Increased efficiency in the logistics industry and the gaps in wages among continents and countries have globalized value chains exponentially in the past century. Goods have been increasingly produced and assembled far away from points of consumption, leading to increased consumption of natural resources and green gas emission for transportation of goods, putting pressure on the fragile ecosystem of the planet. However, we are already starting to see a shift in this trend, where production is starting to move closer to consumers.
As initiatives like that of the Fab City, which involves open source community, global knowledge creation and sharing, and localized production through 3D printing becomes more widespread, a shift from global production to local production will be accelerated. This will most likely involve changes in the way we create and share values in order to maximize the social and economic impact of local production in a globally connected network.
It is for this reason, that the paradigm we will be exploring in this research is the productive city.
In this envisioned future:
- Autonomous fleets will bring greater efficiency
- Goods storage reduction: Transport volumes will reduced by 50%. Warehouse sizes will reduce by 30%.
- The logistics industry will become data centric
- Drones will become the last mile delivery vehicle
- Stores will become experiecial spaces no longer centered on direct purchase
This will lead to a necessity to feed a large infrastructure of drones mainly in regards to energy demand. This energy will be provided in the form of solar panels on all roof tops.
Based on these scenarios Zona Franca´s function plan will change as functions shift and are reduced.
The urban plan will change from small building footprints to larger ones as spaces for pedestrian circulation and vehicular transportation becomes less frequent.
Zona Franca will have to be reprogrammed to become a productivity center. Raw Materials and Recycled content will be collected on the eastern boundary with greater access to the port and the city. This will then be moved to the manufacturing center. Then to storage followed by delivery into the city.
Future visual of Zona Franca
FROM LOCAL TO GLOBAL ECONOMY is a project of IaaC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
developed at Master in City & Technology in (2018/2019) by:
Students: Natalie Adhiambo Ouma, Wei Wei
Faculty: Willy Müller, Jordi Vivaldi
