Territorial Development and Logistics in Catalonia
Equilibrium and Territorial Development: 4 Axes
4.1 Logistics Centers and Territorial Equilibrium
Logistics centers are necessary to ensure useful goods reach their destination. Due to its geographical situation, Catalonia has always been a land passage between Europe, the Iberian Peninsula, and North Africa, thus facilitating trade and the transit of goods and people.
This fact, combined with its strong industrial activity, encourages Catalonia to be a first-class logistics center in the European context. The importance of logistics in the Catalan economy is reflected in its economic production value, the percentage of people employed in the sector, and the fact that it is an indispensable resource for the rest of economic activities.
Logistics platforms are fundamental logistics infrastructures that support logistics and freight transport activities and are therefore necessary to ensure supply to production and consumption. They are connected with one or more high-capacity channels, intending to save costs and transportation time. A logistics platform provides the territory with several important aspects: it contributes to economic development, improves local communications, helps concentrate different companies in the territory, which avoids physical dispersion and favors the increase of synergies (economies of agglomeration).
Although it contributes to these aspects, unfortunately, it also has negative effects, as the possible effects that these infrastructures and activities may have on the environment (emission of pollutants, noise, waste management, landscape impact, etc.) are not always taken into account. Thus, points in common with industrial estates can be observed.
4.2 Diversity or Spatial Imbalances?
As we observe, various economic activities are located unevenly in the territory. They are concentrated in certain places, for example, considering the proximity to raw materials, consumer markets, as well as the advantage provided by the concentration of companies in the same sector.
This concentration, combined with the physiographic heterogeneity, causes the territory to be characterized by strong contrasts. This demonstrates both the unequal distribution of population and the unequal location of economic activities and services.
When speaking of territorial balance, it refers to an organization and functioning of the territory that allows its inhabitants to enjoy a certain standard of living comparable to that of people in other territories, despite regional disparities.
Public administration must ensure that diversity and contrasts do not become territorial imbalances through spatial planning. When we speak of planning, we refer to identifying the shortcomings of certain territories and finding a method to predict and solve them, as well as identifying future needs to achieve a more interconnected effect and simultaneously establish connections with peripheral territories.
Planning, the sector of basic community services, and economic policy are the main instruments to ensure that citizens, regardless of their place of residence and work, feel equal to other citizens and that no territories are left behind in general progress.