Land Take and Logistics Hubs: Castel San Giovanni, the Milan Logistic Region’s Gateway to Emilia-Romagna (Italy)

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of logistics infrastructure development on land take in Castel San Giovanni, a municipality in the province of Piacenza that hosts one of Italy’s largest logistics hubs. Located on the southern edge of the Milan Logistic Region, the municipality has undergone rapid territorial transformation through the expansion of its Logistic Park. The study combines a review of planning and regulatory documents with GIS-based analysis of land-use change between 2003 and 2020. It reconstructs the incremental development of the logistics hub, highlighting the role of planning amendments, territorial agreements and simplified approval procedures in enabling large-scale expansion without an integrated territorial strategy. The findings show substantial growth in urbanised land, loss of agricultural areas, fragmentation of ecological networks and increasing landscape and environmental pressures. The paper assesses these transformations in relation to Emilia-Romagna Regional Law No. 24/2017 and the European objective of No Net Land Take by 2050. It concludes that fragmented governance, regulatory exemptions and insufficient supra-local coordination have limited the effectiveness of sustainable land-use policies and argues for stronger, coordinated planning frameworks for logistics development.