Abstract
The relevant role of freight lorry parking facilities as a tool to reduce nuisances and impact of economic activities in densely populated urban areas is widely recognised in the literature. Nevertheless, the literature currently lacks specific contributions addressing the use of a complex Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approach for coping with an optimal location of freight lorry parking facilities in the urban context. This paper contributes to filling this gap by analysing a real-world case study motivated by the problem of intense freight vehicles traffic around the city of Bradford, Yorkshire (UK). Since it is necessary to include diverse analysis perspectives, reflecting the different classes of involved stakeholders, this study proposes adopting the Analytic Network Process (ANP) approach as a tool to support the selection and evaluation of alternatives for a freight lorry parking facility, followed by the design of software based on this approach. The proposed web Spatial Decision Support System provides a valuable tool to foster extended discussions with experts and facilitate the decision process in this class of location problems.
Highlights
On the Freight Lorry Parking Location ProblemThe relevant role of freight lorry parking facilities as a tool to reduce nuisances and impact of economic activities in densely populated urban areas is widely recognised in the literature, with many interesting contributions addressing the related decision-making and management issues
Since it is necessary to include diverse analysis perspectives, reflecting the different classes of involved stakeholders, this study proposes adopting the Analytic Network Process (ANP) approach as a tool to support the selection and evaluation of alternatives for a freight lorry parking facility, followed by the design of software based on this approach
Identify the classes of stakeholders involved in a lorry parking location problem and their respective objectives; Evaluate ANP as an Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approach to be adopted as an underlying model component for the considered Spatial Decision Support System; Study the set of elements to be included in the Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSS) to take into account all the factors influencing the decision making process; Conceptualise and represent the dependency relationships among the considered elements; Devise the architecture of the proposed Spatial Decision Support System; Beyond the conceptual design: identify the most suitable technological tools to allow for a practical and successful implementation of the proposed SDSS
Summary
The relevant role of freight lorry parking facilities as a tool to reduce nuisances and impact of economic activities in densely populated urban areas is widely recognised in the literature, with many interesting contributions addressing the related decision-making and management issues. Jelokhani-Niaraki and Malczewski propose in [6] an integration between Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and MCDA to select the most suitable sites for public parking facilities in the capital of Iran, Tehran Their approach is aimed at supporting a collaborative spatial planning process and is based on two decision rules. In [8] a multi-method approach based on stakeholders analysis, cognitive mapping and Multi-Attribute Value Theory is proposed as an integrated MCDA tool for approaching policy problems, and applied on a case study to support the evaluation of alternative public parking areas in the touristic region of Alberobello (Puglia, Italy). To the best of our knowledge, the current literature lacks specific contributions addressing the use of a complex MCDA approach for coping with an optimal location of freight lorry parking facilities in the urban context, a territorial policy problem which presents many specific features, including the characteristic of lorry parking being often considered as a non-desirable (obnoxious) facility by resident citizens.
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