Castillo and colleagues treat last-mile logistics as a combined problem of location, routing and urban policy. Their Barcelona model identifies potential micro-hubs across 1,057 existing facilities—including stations, markets, public buildings, pickup points and parking areas—and couples these locations with cargo bikes and electric vans. The methodological core is a location-routing problem solved through agile heuristic and machine-learning procedures capable of producing adaptive plans across multiple operational objectives. The theoretical contribution lies in refusing to separate spatial infrastructure from circulation: the value of a hub depends on the routes and modes it makes possible, while routing efficiency depends on the distribution of intermediary nodes. The wider bridge connects operations research to urban design and public administration. Micro-hubs alter value chains, land-use relations and regulatory requirements, making logistics a spatial governance problem in which algorithmic optimisation, underused urban assets and sustainability policy become mutually dependent.
