Evaluating problems and measures for a sustainable urban freight transport in Brazilian historical cities

Abstract

Urban freight transport (UFT) poses as a challenge in historical cities given the impacts on cultural heritage. This paper presents retailers’ perceptions about urban freight transport in Brazilian historical cities, characterising current operations, identifying problems, and proposing measures for a sustainable urban freight transport. A survey was conducted in seven Brazilian cities to obtain data for the analysis. The research approach is based on descriptive statistics (characterisations of retailers and operations), a method of successive intervals (identifying the problem and freight policies), linear regression (urban delivery generation models), and ordered logit regression (influence of UFT-related problems on solutions). The results indicate that trade in these cities primarily consists of small and independent retailers (nanostores). Unloading zones is the most significant problem and the solutions suggested by retailers are not related with this problem. Moreover, ordered logit regression model showed that delivery time is the UFT-related problem with influence on the freight solutions. We proposed three measures to improve the mobility and accessibility of cargo in historical cities: transhipment areas, truck routes, and unloading bays. Results could support the sustainable urban freight transport in historical cities to preserve the historical heritage and, consequently, Brazil’s memory.