Evaluation of Transportation Environmental Load Based on the Market Miles Index: Analysis for Food Distribution from the Point of Market Location, Urban Layout and Regional Producting and Consuming

Abstract

This study proposes Market Miles that is advanced index of Food Miles to quantify environmental load caused by the transport, to and from the market. Market Miles is composed from two parts, one is the Article Miles (from the place of origin to the market) and the other is Shopping Miles (from the market to the each home). The case study is executed in different types of two markets that locate in Kurashiki city. The one is regional producting and consuming style morning fair in the downtown, and the other is large-scale suburban store. The Market Miles of large-scale suburban store is about twice as that of downtown market. It is also clarified that the proportion of Shopping Miles is not small especially caused by shopping by car.