Data collection framework for understanding UFT within city logistics solutions

Urban Freight Transport (UFT) is a fundamental component of city life. It involves a vast range of activities resulting from relationships among different actors with conflicting needs and goals. Manufacturers are interested in fast and on-time deliveries, retailers require complete assortment and frequent deliveries, citizens wish to have easy access to goods while not losing their quality of life and City Authorities have to face negative externalities related to UFT (i.e. congestion, air and noise pollution, and safety). Concretely, few cities have a well-developed and comprehensive city logistics strategy because authorities generally focus their attention on passenger transport. When city logistics measures have been conceived and implemented, frequently private requirements have not been considered sufficiently. The European Commission includes the lack of data and understanding of freight flows among the main obstacles to the improvement of operational efficiency and planning process for a sustainable UFT in economic, social and environmental terms. Also, the research community raises the issue of the unavailability or the low quality of data on urban freight and the need to identify effective data collection methods in order to understand processes and actors' behavior and then define appropriate city logistics solutions. The NOVELOG EU project is providing city authorities and practitioners with a new framework aimed at systematizing all data to be collected, directly or indirectly, and to be elaborated in order to understand and represent the different aspects of the UFT sector. In order to achieve a complete knowledge, the framework approaches this sector according to four main thematic pillars: 1) profile of major supply chains served in the urban area under study; 2) mapping of urban freight and service trips activity; 3) organizational and legal framework; 4) procedural and technological methods and innovations. The present paper introduces the framework and the guidance it provides to its target audience

Evaluation of Specific Policy Measures to Promote Sustainable Urban Logistics in Small-medium Sized Cities: The Case of Serres, Greece

AbstractUrban logistics is an integral part of the proper functioning of a city. It generates employment, serves and supports industrial and commercial activities that are daily taking place in modern urban centres, considered to be important levers of development and prosperity for a region. In recent years, interest in sustainable freight distribution procedures has been increasing among Local Authorities. Sustainable mobility, planning and development of relative management systems involves multiple stakeholders who -through collective effort- need to design, organize and implement actions and measures to support them. This paper presents specific policy measures regarding the enhancement of urban logistics procedures in small-medium sized cities, evaluated through a multi-criteria analysis in the framework of the elaboration of a Sustainable Urban Logistics Plan (SULP) for the city of Serres in Greece

Investigating the implementation of potential strategies for enhancing urban mobility and a city logistics system on the island of Corfu

The aim of this paper is to identify potential strategies for establishing more sustainable transport systems, in the island of Corfu, Greece. Thus, it investigates the implementation of “intermediate” and “flexible” transport and logistics schemes, operated by eco-friendly vehicles, allowing Corfu Island to achieve high standards of energy efficiency and environmental quality. With an ultimate scope to achieve remarkable modal shift from private transport to eco and energy efficient sustainable services and significant rationalization of freight delivery services, the suggested strategies aim to achieve: reduction of private traffic, improvement of passengers’ local mobility, rationalization and optimization of freight distribution on the island. Interviews with people working in the transport related field are utilized as the main research instrument and shed light on the needs and requirements of a reorganized transport system for both passengers and goods in the island. The investigation conducted, shows that the island needs a reduction of car use, improvement of public transport services and logistic services optimization. Therefore, three potential measures are proposed and further analyzed