Urban Consolidation Centers – Insights from a Design Thinking perspective

Abstract

The logistics system in urban environments is already stressed and freight forwarders are forced to meet customers' increased expectations for speed and flexibility in deploying an increasing number of vehicles with smaller load capacity which increases congestion. Several projects have been undertaken in recent decades to address urban logistics issues, and various types of urban consolidation centers (UCC) have been introduced and tested. Most of them indicate that there is both an economic as well as an ecological upside to these systems. However very few of these projects have survived after the public funding has ended. The aim of this investigation was to identify insights and recommendations for future UCC pilots using Design Thinking as a process to investigate multi-stakeholder perspectives.