To make ordering things convenient, vast landscapes are sacrificed to logistics

A UK real estate firm calculated that for every £1 billion spent online, we must build 1.3 million square feet of warehousing to support it.

I think a lot about the ramifications of the ‘invisible’ infrastructure that powers our digital lives. The empty spaces of our world are filling up with distribution centres, logistics hubs and warehouses. This article by Charlie Jarvis explores the impacts (and intentional invisibility) of the global supply chain that powers convenience-driven online shopping:

The visions of frictionlessness demand empty space on an unprecedented scale. The more we buy, the more space we need to be emptied of life. Convenience — the learned demand for instant gratification — voids the world of its features, turning fields into town-size circuit boards. Yet at the same time, convenience demands that we forget the material costs of our desires.