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Intra-urban industrial linkages and rail terminal location

University of British Columbia

It has been suggested that declining urban freight transport costs have lessened the importance of industrial linkage as a factor in intra-urban industrial location, resulting in the suburbanization of industrial activity. Inner city industrial areas have been characterized as 'zones in transition', implying that such areas do not constitute efficient use of land in the context of modern urban spatial organization. This thesis examines the industrial linkages associated with Vancouver's inner city rail terminal, located on the north shore of False Creek, in order to test the hypothesis that the firms remaining in the vicinity of the terminal form a viable industrial complex focused on the terminal operation. Data gathered in 1975 for a comprehensive survey of Vancouver trucking operations is adapted and analyzed to determine terminal-related linkage patterns. A comparison with the linkages associated with Vancouver's other, rail/truck general freight terminal shows the similarity of the two terminals' impact on the distribution of local industries. In both cases transport costs are an important factor in explaining linkage patterns. The persistence of industrial activity in the inner city can thus be attributed to the continuing influence of transport-related factors, supporting the hypothesis that an inner, city location is not necessarily transitional or inefficient, for industrial firms. However, nonterminal linkages of inner city firms do not diminish with distance; the viability of this complex will be adversely affected by the proposed relocation of the False-Creek terminal to a suburban site.

Text

2010-03-29

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/23007

Geography

University of British Columbia

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