Sustainable Urban Freight Research Articles

Promoting sustainable urban freight through stakeholder engagement to co-create decarbonisation pathways in the UK

The contribution of greenhouse gas emissions from UK urban freight is growing in absolute terms, but the existence of alternative technology options means the urban part of the freight system has potential for relatively early decarbonisation. However, barriers are limiting the speed and extent of uptake. Indeed, freight decarbonisation is a sociotechnical challenge. Behaviour change is usually required to facilitate technological change. For this reason, stakeholders are central to processes of identifying pathways to decarbonisation. The paper reports findings from two projects undertaken in the UK in 2020–21 which examined how stakeholder engagement on freight decarbonisation could be enhanced to promote the process of identifying pathways through co-creation. The projects involved the conduct of literature reviews, stakeholder mapping exercises, and stakeholder engagement in coproduction workshops. The stakeholder mapping and engagement process led to the identification of groups of actors which were relatively easy and hard to include. Engagement and interaction were found to be promoted in some respects by the need to conduct the data collection remotely rather than in presence, and by building on established networks. In terms of the identification of pathways, stakeholders showed mixed levels of knowledge. Uncertainty about the future was generally high, with perceived risks being important. Nonetheless, short, medium and long-term pathway features were identified, with electrification playing a key role in the long term. However, the need for strong multilevel governance providing a clear regulatory framework and incentives for change was perceived by stakeholders overall to be more significant than a particular technology. The paper concludes with an agenda for further research.

Urban Environment’s Contributory Factors for the Adoption of Cargo Bike Usage: A Systematic Literature Review

The supply chain sector plays a crucial role in driving economic development and globalization. However, the environmental repercussions of logistics and freight transport have become more pronounced. Nowadays, there is an ever-increasing acceptance regarding the opinion that the use of more sustainable urban freight transport has the potential to offer great social, economic, and environmental benefits. This study examines and highlights, via a systematic literature review, the urban environment’s factors that can essentially influence the promotion and usage of cargo bikes for last-mile deliveries in the urban environment. The aforementioned literature review revealed the importance of the quality of the urban environment’s components for the perceived and objective safety of people who make use of cargo bikes. In particular, the most essential factors for the increased use of cargo bikes were found to be traffic load, speed limits, and heavy vehicle traffic. Bicycle infrastructure is also an important factor in bicycling acceptance, as it provides the backbone for a comfortable and safe bicycle ride. Two other factors that can seriously affect cyclists’ sense of safety are street intersections and the width and number of road lanes, as the interaction between cargo bikes and motorized vehicles increases the possibility of traffic accidents. All the above factors need to be considered via various public policies that are not isolated countermeasures but form part of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans that are currently being implemented in many European cities to ensure continuity and create a sustainable future.

Integrating Cargo Bikes and Drones into Last-Mile Deliveries: Insights from Pilot Deliveries in Five Greek Cities

Currently, there is a growing consensus that the use of more sustainable urban freight transportation has the potential to offer major energy and efficiency benefits which can be achieved through the appropriate combination of cargo bikes and the integration of drones into the urban logistics system. This study presents the results of a stepwise regression analysis that examines the role, benefits, and impact of electric vehicles such as e-bikes, cargo bikes, and drones for intermodal freight transportation in five Greek cities to support the green logistics paradigm. The results show that between routes of almost equal length, the most bicycle-friendly routes, such as routes along pedestrian areas or residential streets, should be avoided, as they reduce delivery speed and increase delivery costs in terms of energy and time expenditure. In addition, priority roads, which usually have higher traffic speeds and more trucks, are preferred by cyclists due to the quality of the road surface, even though the feeling of safety is lower on such roads. Finally, regarding drones, energy consumption is relatively low in the 0–5 mph and 6–10 mph wind speed ranges, indicating efficient energy use. In the 11–15 mph and 16–20 mph wind speed ranges, energy efficiency is significantly lower than the battery capacity, indicating that the cargo drone exhibits excessive energy consumption under these conditions.

Planning City Logistics Flexibility Using Sustainable Urban Logistics Plans

Planning for complex sustainability problems requires flexibility regarding regularly updated knowledge, mandates, and collaboration. Focussing on sustainable urban freight transport in plans, we investigate how urban logistics is accommodated in today's strategic plans in Norway and Poland. Based on plans from the most populated municipalities, we find flexibility in the type of plans and topics that frame sustainable urban logistics issues. We conclude that including urban logistics in strategic plans that are flexible and sustainable is more important to the municipalities than only adopting a separate sustainable urban logistics plan (SULP).

The scope for more sustainable urban freight transport through shared resources, An exploratory study

Urban freight transport is vital for cities, yet it presents challenges like air quality, noise, safety, and visual impacts. Public and private entities aim to enhance citizen well-being and economic viability, necessitating a sustainable urban freight transport system. This study explores opportunities and barriers to resource sharing in urban freight through an exploratory investigation. The research included a literature review on sustainable shared freight resources. McKinsey reports were also reviewed for a balanced perspective. Furthermore, five semi-structured interviews were conducted to deepen insights. The results highlight seven distinct shared resources, both tangible and intangible.

Indicators as a Tool for Assessing the Level of Sustainable Urban Freight Logistics

Urban transport system planning has been moving towards sustainability in recent years, and the concept of urban freight logistics is an integral part of this planning. Urban freight logistics involves many stakeholders that participate in its operation and should be considered in the system planning process. The paper presents one of the approaches to the methodology for the selection of key indicators suitable for the evaluation and monitoring of a sustainable system of urban freight logistics in such a way that it reflects as much as possible the needs of all involved stakeholders. This is done by applying the selected method of multi-criteria analysis with the involvement of various urban freight logistics stakeholders. Based on the proposed methodology, the paper defines significant indicators that can be considered for further evaluation of the level of a sustainable urban freight logistics system. In addition to the possibilities of further development of this methodology, the application of determined significant indicators for calculating the proposed index of sustainable urban freight logistics is discussed. The proposed procedure can be implemented in the preparatory steps in the framework of the creation of sustainable urban logistics plans (SULPs).

Development of freight trip generation model using observed and unobserved information of supply chain characteristics for a sustainable urban transformation

Supply Chain Characteristics (SCC) drive the city logistics to control the economic activities that support urban life and transformation. The dynamics of freight trip activity and SCC in city logistics are less understood by city planners, disrupting the prediction of urban Freight Trip Generation (FTG) models. To develop robust urban FTG models, the present study introduces the concept of estimating the freight trip activity using observed and unobserved (subjective) information of SCC for sustainable urban transport movement. Traditionally, the objective variable excludes the unobserved information of SCC while developing the FTG model; this gap can be addressed by incorporating subjective variables to measure both observed and unobserved information of SCC. A unique framework was designed by a combination of objective and subjective variables through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to estimate the freight trip activity. An Establishment Based Freight Survey (EBFS) collected from an Indian smart city (1793 samples) comprising various SCC was used to test the developed framework. Deployed EFA can identify the subjective variables using latent constructs to explain the observed and unobserved information in the SCC. Then, sequential execution of SEM with hypothesis path structure for estimating the freight trip activity. The direct, indirect, and total effects of the FTG model revealed added advantage of causal inter-relationship of urban freight trip activity and SCC between intermediate and pure receiver establishment. The developed FTG models using observed and unobserved information of SCC predicted freight trip activity with an accuracy of 57% for intermediate and 63% for pure receiver establishment. The effect of SSC on freight trip activity aids in creating sustainable urban freight transportation that could be an agile, responsive, and flexible adaptive system for the global market demand.

Optimizing Vehicle Replacement in Sustainable Urban Freight Transportation Subject to Presence of Regulatory Measures

Since the 1990s, studies and pilot tests have been conducted to reduce traffic, accidents, and pollution due to urban freight transport (UFT). These ended up in several policies, regulations, and restrictions for UFT, such as low emission zones, delivery time windows, and vehicle size and weight restrictions. However, issues in UFT under regulatory measures still persist. This study introduces an optimization framework for deriving an optimal combination of various types of vehicles with different capacities for vehicle replacement with UFT. This framework allows an understanding of how an urban freight company with a limited budget efficiently satisfies its freight demand within an urban area in the presence of regulatory measures by urban administrators. The introduced formulation, which is mixed-integer linear programming, will assist the operator in choosing the best investment strategy for introducing new vehicles of certain types and sizes, for operation in different zones, into its fleet while gaining economic benefits and having a positive impact on the liveability of the urban area. Furthermore, an elasticity analysis is performed to consider the effects of specific uncertain parameters on the total cost. The numerical results show that the share of electric vehicles in the fleet increases, and they are more competitive than diesel vehicles.

Sustainable Urban Freight for Energy-Efficient Smart Cities—Systematic Literature Review

Smart cities need energy-efficient and low-emission transportation for people and goods. Most studies focus on sustainable urban-transportation systems for passengers. Freight transportation in cities has increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to greenhouse gases emissions and negative externalities, such as traffic congestion. The purpose of this paper is to identify through a systematic literature review which innovations (hardware and software) applied by logistics service providers (LSPs) in sustainable urban freight (SUF) are suitable to support the transition to energy-efficient smart cities. We propose to classify the existing innovations in last-mile delivery for SUF into categories: (1) urban freight consolidation and/or trans-shipment; (2) the Consumer as a Service Provider (CaaSP); (3) choice of transportation modes. We introduce the concept of CaaSP as an innovative solution in last-mile delivery (LMD), where customers take over some transport operations with the use of smart technologies, and thus reduce the energy demand. We consider the modes of transportation, such as: drones, autonomous delivery robots, autonomous vehicles, cargo bikes (including e-cargo bikes, e-tricycles), electric vehicles (mainly vans), and combined passenger-and-cargo transportation rapid-transit systems. From the analyzed dataset, we find that energy-efficiency in smart cities can be improved by the consolidation of parcels in micro-depots, parcel lockers, and mobile depots. We analyze smart technologies (the Internet of things, big data, artificial intelligence, and digital twins), which enable energy efficiency by reducing the energy demand (fuel) of SUF, due to better operational planning and infrastructure sharing by logistics service providers. We propose a new IEE matrix as an actionable tool for the classification of innovations applied by LSPs in SUF, according to the level of their interconnectivity and energy efficiency. Additionally, this paper contributes to the theory by exploring possible future research directions for SUF in energy-efficient smart cities.

Analysis of Selected Solutions for Sustainable Urban Deliveries in the Construction Industry

Modern cities are places where the ever-increasing human needs are met. This is possible through the creation of friendly living conditions and enabling economic exchange, as a result of which enterprises provide their clients with goods and services. Urban freight transport is an element that supports these processes. However, in addition to the benefits it delivers, its organization and impacts pose challenges in environmental, economic, and social terms. Implementation of construction projects is a determinant of the development of modern cities. However, this entails transport for supply purposes, which significantly affects the volume of freight transport in cities. Such a large share translates into a growing interest in the topic of using more sustainable ways of organizing and providing construction-related transport. The paper presents the first stage of research aimed at building a model for the implementation of good practices in the field of construction supplies. The aim of the paper was to analyze the transport of construction supplies in terms of compliance with the principles of sustainable development on the example of construction projects currently implemented in Szczecin. Furthermore, this paper is centered around collecting good practices in the field of construction transport. The goal was achieved using the analysis of the statistical data, non-structured observation, and surveys regarding construction projects being carried out in Szczecin, and also paper-and-pencil interviews with experts. It was possible to identify irregularities and gaps in knowledge in the field of sustainable urban freight transport for the implementation of construction supplies. The diagnosed current condition may be a significant source of problems in the future and clearly indicates the need for further research and action by both city authorities and enterprises in the direction of implementing measures for sustainable urban freight transport. As part of the paper, the possibility of using Petri nets in decision-making processes on the implementation of selected organizational solutions contributing to a more sustainable organization of construction supplies was also examined. The developed decision models were simulated in the HPSim software. Models created by the authors using Petri nets can be an important tool that clearly and transparently shows enterprises their possibilities in the implementation of good practices.

A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective on Barriers to a Fossil-Free Urban Freight System

The purpose of this study is to provide a system perspective on the barriers to the development of a fossil-free and thus more sustainable urban freight system and to provide insights regarding these barriers and how they impede progress. The system perspective complements earlier research, where barriers were identified in delimited parts of freight systems. Here, the urban freight system in a Swedish city is explored using an inductive and qualitative approach, according to which barriers are both detailed and categorized. This study is based on empirical data concerning the perceptions of multiple stakeholders in one system. The interrelationships between barrier categories and changes to the urban freight system are explored through management theory. This study provides a unique overview of the barriers to development in one system and insights concerning these barriers and how they impede development of the system. Ten categories of barriers are identified: technology, infrastructure, economy, knowledge, policy, goals, organization, cooperation, politics, and societal factors. The categories can be divided into four different types, which are related to each other and to the overall system in various ways, based on how they impede the development toward sustainability. Future research could advance this theoretical knowledge by continuing to study urban freight system development processes and by adding insights from other contexts, stakeholders, and theoretical areas.

Application of the Experimental Method in the Assessment of the Electromobility Paradigm for Courier Shipments in an Urban Agglomeration

The main idea of this article is to identify the benefits of the full vehicle substitution process for a fully sustainable Urban Freight Transport (UFT) in economic, social, and environmental terms, based on the application of the experimental method. The scientific assumption was made that Electric Delivery Vehicles (EFV) can be complementary in the first stage, and only in the next stage, substitutable to the traditional diesel-powered fleet servicing transport (courier) tasks within the delivery limits in the Szczecin Agglomeration. To assess the level of substitutability, observational instruments were used, while ensuring an active modification of the studied phenomenon (introduction to the operation of selected routes of electric vehicles). The focus was on three key elements, the environment, rules, and regularities. The article presents the architecture of such experiments regarding 22 selected routes, which allowed for the calculation of selected performance indicators for ex-ante evaluation in planning delivery scenarios. The results were verified using a simulation-based approach in the Szczecin Metropolitan Area. As a result, it made it possible to find answers to the research questions posed, in particular: is it possible to fully replace combustion-engine vans with electric ones, and what integrated benefits can be identified, and their systematics has been illustrated in the proposed proprietary model “Electromobility Octagon Profit”. Future research could extend the theoretical knowledge by further exploring the development processes for the use of electric vehicles in the urban freight transport system and by adding insights from other contexts, stakeholders, and theoretical areas.

Integrating Freight and Public Transport Terminals Infrastructure by Locating Lockers: Analysing a Feasible Solution for a Medium-Sized Brazilian Cities

Integrating freight and public transport infrastructure can lead to providing economic feasibility to public transportation systems and reducing externalities related to urban freight transport. This can be achieved by sharing the infrastructure of freight and public transportation systems. Additionally, failed deliveries represent a major challenge in e-commerce. Lockers can address this problem and promote sustainable urban freight transport. This paper identified a locker network in a public transportation infrastructure. The framework considered scenarios built under the 15-min city concept, and the analysis is based on a case study in Jaraguá do Sul (Brazil, a mid-sized Brazilian city, and its conurbated area. The networks were found by solving a p-median problem, which minimised the maximum distance between the lockers and the population. The findings showed that, in the best scenario with 16 lockers, the population could reach the lockers within a 10-min cycling ride. Additionally, the results showed that the public transportation network provides a locker network to integrate freight and public transportation. The locker network is accessible to public transportation and micromobility users. With this solution, residents play an active role in last-mile deliveries. In addition, lockers can work as mini hubs for crowdshipping services. In addition to reducing urban delivery trips, this solution can encourage public transportation usage, which contributes to more sustainable cities.

Hydrogen storage station location selection in sustainable freight transportation via intuitionistic hesitant decision support system

Increasingly fierce competition in energy industry for alternative fuels has raised demand for fuel storage stations to be one of the pivots towards sustainable urban freight transportation. For zero-emission hydrogen-powered vehicles, these demands focus mostly on storage capacity and refueling-station location selection to maximize freight forwarding efficiency in major urban regions. This research proposes a Decision Support System (DSS) for hydrogen storage station location selection based on Intuitionistic Hesitant Fuzzy (IHF) methodologies. An ensemble of four methods were analyzed and applied for the use case of Larissa city urban region, central Greece. Fifteen evaluation criteria were imposed by experts from the transportation department and the local competent authorities, spanning to hydrogen infrastructure, socioeconomics and fleet and road network. Scenarios such as energy efficiency, pollution prevention and public acceptance in conjunction to the risk and safety considerations play a critical role in the process. All qualitative indicators were represented by triangular intuitionistic fuzzy numbers. The ensemble produced the same ranking indicating the Steiner point locations of the imposed communication tree on the road network as the most preferable scenario.

VRP in urban areas to optimize costs while mitigating environmental impact

Nowadays, the need to think about sustainable mobility, both goods and people, is widely recognized. For this reason, many recent papers have moved in this direction. In this context, particular attention is now devoted to urban mobility, mainly from a smart city perspective. The present work focuses on sustainable urban freight distribution and proposes a variant of the VRP, which presents some innovative aspects. The goal is to minimize the routes’ cost components, including traveling and external costs due to environmental issues, depending on the chosen vehicles and the different urban streets to cross. In addition, restrictions on the maximum duration of each route to ensure frequent sanitation of vehicles used for deliveries, as required from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, are imposed. The distribution network is modeled by a weighted digraph for which some properties are proved. To face the problem, we present a mixed-integer linear programming model, a math-heuristic associated with it, and a memetic algorithm approach. The results of the reported computational experimentation with random instances specifically tailored for the problem show the efficiency of the proposed methods. Further, test cases based on data of the distribution network of two B2C companies operating in the city of Genoa, Italy, proved the effective application of the proposed methods in the direction of sustainable urban distribution plans.

Usability of Physical Internet Characteristics for Achieving More Sustainable Urban Freight Logistics: Barriers and Opportunities Revealed by Dominant Stakeholder Perspectives

Urban freight logistics currently have to deal with multiple unsustainable conditions. Physical Internet (PI) characteristics show promise in making urban freight logistics more sustainable. This paper explores the opportunities and barriers to implementing this concept. Q-methodology is a method used to reveal different stakeholder perspectives. The results of the Q-methodology show four different perspectives out of which three display a positive attitude toward PI characteristics. One perspective is more moderate and states that a lot is possible already without any changes. One of the barriers is that there is no urgency to change. Further, most perspectives have a positive attitude toward regulations as long as they are nationally coordinated. Based on these results, policy recommendations are developed for individual and collaborative actions for stakeholders.

Governance challenges for urban logistics: Lessons from three Norwegian cities

AbstractAchieving more sustainable urban freight transport is a key challenge for cities, especially with the rise of diverse urban delivery services. However, the governance of urban freight transport and urban logistics has typically been seen as the domain of the private sector. In this paper we argue for a reframing of urban logistics as a matter of concern for public authorities, and subsequently, we examine logistics as an urban governance challenge: how is urban logistics addressed by urban level authorities? The empirical basis for the paper is a study of three Norwegian cities—Bergen, Trondheim, and Stavanger—currently working to integrate logistics into their governance processes. These cities are currently piloting solutions, sharing experiences, and attempting to establish effective regulations and measures. Nonetheless, various institutional barriers are preventing the implementation of public governance processes for urban logistics. We emphasise the need for clarified responsibilities in the public sector and for reconciliation between different users of public space, including urban logistics actors. In conclusion, we point to key issues to be addressed by an emerging research literature on the governance of urban logistics for sustainability.

Joint optimization of carriage arrangement and flow control in a metro-based underground logistics system

Under the background of developing sustainable urban freight transportation on the operation level, this study investigates a joint optimization problem of carriage arrangement and flow control in a metro-based underground logistics system, in which passengers and freights are allowable to share each service train. By introducing the carriage arrangement variable and flow assignment variables related to passengers and freights, the problem of interest is formulated as an integer linear programming model with the objective of minimizing the weighted sum of the operation cost and the total delay penalty. To handle the solution challenges posed by a large number of integer decision variables, it is proved that the proposed model can be transformed into an equivalent mixed-integer linear programming model. Then, for solving the proposed model, an improved Benders decomposition algorithm is designed based on the model characteristics. Finally, a set of numerical examples on the Beijing metro Batong line are conducted to verify the performance and effectiveness of the proposed approaches.

Establishing bicycle logistics in urban areas—Experiences from entrepreneurs and local policy actors

This paper aims to deepen the insights into specific policy and planning prerequisites that affect how bicycle logistics services can be initiated and established in urban environments. Empirical data consist of policy documents and qualitative interviews with bicycle logistics entrepreneurs and local policy actors from four Swedish municipalities which are all known for their ambitious strategies for sustainable transport. The paper leads to insights into a variety of challenges facing the introduction of bicycle logistics in urban environments but points also to possibilities and key issues for the further development of these types of concepts. Among these are the importance of targeted initiatives and support for new concepts for sustainable urban freight, but also conscious strategies for infrastructure development and a more well-informed use of public procurement processes. In addition, the study confirms the importance of norms, attitudes and knowledge among policy makers, planners and potential customers about bicycle logistics and its potential for urban areas.

Fuzzy Assessment Framework for Sustainable Urban Freight Transport

Fuzzy Assessment Framework for Sustainable Urban Freight Transport