Logistics In The Cities’ Development Strategies PDF Download

Author: Maja Kiba-Janiak
Publisher: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego we Wrocławiu
ISBN: 8376957597
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
City logistics plays an increasingly important role in Europe. Among the many affecting factors is the increasing urban population, which in 2015 accounted for two thirds of the European Union population [Eurostat 2018]. This situation causes increased personal and commodity traffic in cities and contributes to such problems as: congestion, lowering the level of road safety and environmental pollution. Problems, resulting from the increased personal and commodity traffic, require taking strategic decisions by local authorities. In recent years, within the framework of various European projects, the assumptions have been developed for urban authorities to draw up sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMP), sustainable urban transport plans (SUTP) and sustainable urban logistics plans (SULP) [Fossheim, Andersen 2017, pp. 9-52]. Nevertheless, in order to effectively implement transport plans, the city requires a logistics strategy that would allow these plans to be adapted to the city's vision and strategic goals. This book presents both theoretical framework as well as practical tools and methods for a city logistics strategy development. The obtained research results conducted in 15 EU capital cities complement the existing knowledge on the essence of logistics in city development strategies, and thus can also provide valuable information for local authorities, researchers or politician

Author: Anjali Awasthi
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781536166095
Category : City planning
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Modern cities are facing the growing problem of congestion, poor air quality and lack of public space. To ameliorate the condition of goods transport in cities, sustainable city logistics planning is essential. It requires a collaborative approach among city logistics stakeholders for consolidated goods distribution inside city centers to minimize their negative impacts on city residents and their environment. The book presents theoretical studies, state of the art, and practical applications in the area of sustainable city logistics. It is composed of nine chapters. A brief description of the various chapters is provided as follows: Chapter 1 by Sharfuddin Ahmed Khan and Syed Tahaur Rehman presents a review of literature and future prospects on sustainable city logistics. Globalization, governmental rules, and regulations enforce decision makers and managers to incorporate sustainability in every aspect of their decision making (DM) specifically in city logistics. The area of sustainable city logistics is still in its developing stage and not many authors explore sustainability aspects in city logistics. The focus of this chapter is to review existing literature related to city logistics that considered sustainability in DM. A total of 40 articles that were published between 2010 to 2019 have been considered and categorized in terms of objective of study, area of research focus such as qualitative, quantitative, case study etc., and multi criteria DM methods. Finally, future prospects and directions has been proposed in sustainable city logistics. Chapter 2 by Sättar Ezzati presents challenges and opportunities in maritime logistics empty container repositioning. Maritime logistics and freight transportation are extensive and complex sectors that involve large material resources and represent intricate relationships between trade-off the various decisions and policies affecting different components. Because of the globalization, e-market and high level of customization trends, the sector has faced diversified challenges on different levels of planning including designing, scheduling, fleet sizing, decisions about container ownership, leasing and empty container repositioning, uncertainty and collaboration opportunities that already has provoked advanced coordination and intelligent optimization techniques for its global operations from strategic and tactical perspectives. Large attention of this chapter concentrates on empty containers repositioning problem and potential pathways to address this issue and how container shipping companies can handle this challenge with the help of operations research techniques from the perspectives of shipping business industry. To do so, this chapter presents a comprehensive and systematic literature review mainly focused on recent publications correspond to these logistics that maritime industries are facing. Chapter 3 by Yisha Luo, Ali Alaghbandrad, Tersoo Kelechukwu, and Amin Hammad addresses the theme of smart multi-purpose utility tunnels. In terms of sustainable practices, the conventional method of open cut utility installation has proven to be a short-term solution, considering its negative impact on the environment, and its social disruptive nature. An alternative to open cut utility installation is Multi-purpose Utility Tunnels (MUTs), as it offers an economic, sustainable, and easy to manage and inspect method of utility placement. The risks associated with MUTs are both natural and manmade. As a way of tackling these risks, smart MUTs with the use of sensors will reduce the effects of the risks while supporting the operation and maintenance processes for MUT operators. To enhance decision making, data collected from the sensors are used in the MUT Information Modelling (MUTIM). MUTIM includes the utility tunnel structural model with utilities, equipment, sensors, and devices that can be used for emergency management increasing the sustainability and resilience of smart cities. Chapter 4 by Léonard Ryo Morin, Fabian Bastin, Emma Frejinger, and Martin Trépanier model truck route choices in an urban area using a recursive logit model and GPS data. They explore the use of GPS devices to capture heavy truck routes in the Montreal urban road network. The main focus lies on trips that originate or depart from intermodal terminals (rail yard, port). They descriptively analyse GPS data and use the data to estimate a recursive logit model by means of maximum likelihood. The results show the main factors affecting the route choice decisions. Using this type of predictive models when planning and designing the transport network nearby intermodal terminals could offer opportunities to reduce the negative impacts on truck movements, as the CO2 emissions. Chapter 5 by Akolade Adegoke presents a literature review on benchmarking port sustainability performance. Sustainable development agendas are challenging the world and ports, in particular, to find ways to become more efficient while meeting economic, social and environmental objectives. Although there has been a considerable body of documentation on port green practices and performance in Europe and America, there is limited synthesis about evaluation of sustainable practices in the context of Canadian ports. This chapter provides a review of literature and initiatives employed by global ports authorities and identifies major sustainability performance indicators. Chapter 6 by Silke Hoehl, Kai-Oliver Schocke, and Petra Schaefer presents analysis and recommendations of delivery strategies in urban and suburban areas. A research series about commercial transport started in the region of Frankfurt/Main (Germany) started in 2014. The first project dealt with the commercial transport in the city centre of Frankfurt/Main. One hypothesis was that CEP vehicles are congesting the streets. A data base was built by collecting data in two streets in the centre of Frankfurt. Contrary to the expectation a significant part of commercial transport is caused by vehicles of craftsmen. After that, in 2016 the second project examined the delivery strategies of four CEP companies in Frankfurt. One research question was if CEP companies use different delivery strategies in different parts of the city. Therefore 40 delivery tours were accompanied and data was collected e.g. number of stops, number of parcels per stops, car type, transport situation, parking situation, shift lengths or GPS-track. In parallel, the traffic situation in several districts of Frankfurt were analyzed. In a third part, the two streams were put together to recommend delivery strategies for CEP-companies as well as useful insights for local authorities. As a third project of the research series a new project has just begun. The study area has been extended to the entire RheinMain region. It deals with the commercial transport and faces the challenge to manage commercial transport at a low emission level. On the one hand, the methodologies of the two preceding projects will be applied to a suburban area in the region. Recommendations will be developed. On the other hand, loading zones for electric vehicles in Frankfurt will be identified and developed. After that, a conference will give a wide overview of existing delivery concepts. By pointing out critical situations in the delivery chain, the whole last mile will be described. Chapter 7 by Shuai Ma, Jia Yu, and Ahmet Satir presents a scheme for sequential decision making with a risk-sensitive objective and constraints in a dynamic scenario. A neural network is trained as an approximator of the mapping from parameter space to space of risk and policy with risk-sensitive constraints. For a given risk-sensitive problem, in which the objective and constraints are, or can be estimated by, functions of the mean and variance of return, we generate a synthetic dataset as training data. Parameters defining a targeted process might be dynamic, i.e., they might vary over time, so we sample them within specified intervals to deal with these dynamics. We show that: i). Most risk measures can be estimated with the return variance; ii). By virtue of the state-augmentation transformation, practical problems modeled by Markov decision processes with stochastic rewards can be solved in a risk-sensitive scenario; and iii). The proposed scheme is validated by a numerical experiment. Chapter 8 by J.H.R. van Duin, B. Enserink, J.J. Daleman, and M. Vaandrager addresses the theme of sustainable alternatives selection for parcel delivery. The GHG-emissions of the transport sector are still increasing. This trend is accompanied by the strong growth of the e-commerce sector, leading to more transport movements on our road networks. In order to mitigate the externalities of the e-commerce related parcel delivery market and try to make it more sustainable, the following research question has been drafted: How could the last mile parcel delivery process beco

Author: Jesus Gonzalez-Feliu
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 364231788X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Since the 1990’s, researchers, practitioners and public administrations have given more thought to urban logistics. However, their interests and goals are not the same, and several approaches do not produce efficient logistics systems as a result. This book aims to provide both a conceptual framework for urban logistics planning and management and to create a basis for deploying solutions that aim to reduce the main nuisances related to urban goods. The proposed book is divided in two parts. The first proposes a set of methodological chapters, written by key authors, which aim to support decision makers in their current choices related to urban logistics. In addition to public authorities’ aims and goals, the book highlights the importance of private actors, and shows how supply chain management can deal with the problems of the last urban mile and its integration in global logistics chains. The second presents several applied research works that deal with current planning and practice issues in urban logistics, such as the role of city planning, the place of night deliveries in carrier organization, the limits of logistics pooling, and the real estate market, among others. The book was written by key authors, all having considerable research experience and recognised as experts in their respective fields. Each chapter presents methods and results of research works, written for a broad audience, and more precisely directed to both academics and practitioners.

Author: Eiichi Taniguchi
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1786302071
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
This volume of three books presents recent advances in modelling, planning and evaluating city logistics for sustainable and liveable cities based on the application of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems). It highlights modelling the behaviour of stakeholders who are involved in city logistics as well as planning and managing policy measures of city logistics including cooperative freight transport systems in public-private partnerships. Case studies of implementing and evaluating city logistics measures in terms of economic, social and environmental benefits from major cities around the world are also given.

Author: Oliver Lah
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0128148985
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Sustainable Urban Mobility Pathways examines how sustainable urban mobility solutions contribute to achieving worldwide sustainable development and global climate change targets, while also identifying barriers to implementation and strategies to overcome them. Building on city-to-city cooperation experiences in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, the book examines key challenges in the context of the Paris Agreement, UN Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda, including policies needed to achieve a sustainable, low-carbon pathway for transport and how an integrated policy strategy is designed to provide a basis for political coalitions. The book explores which institutional framework creates sufficient political stability and continuity to foster the take-up of and long-term support for sustainable transport strategies. The linkages of climate change and wider sustainable development objectives are covered, including success stories, best practices, and quantitative analysis for key emerging economies in public transport, walking, cycling, freight and logistics, vehicle technology and fuels, urban planning and integration, and national framework policies. - Provides a holistic view of sustainable urban transport, focusing on policy-making processes, the role of institutions and successes and pitfalls - Delivers practical insights drawn from the experiences of actual city-to-city cooperation and on-the-ground policy work - Explores options for the integration of policy objectives and institutional structures that form coalitions for the implementation of sustainable urban mobility solutions - Describes the policy, institutional, political, and socio-economic aspects in cities in five emerging economies: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and Turkey

Author: Mats Janné
Publisher: Linköping University Electronic Press
ISBN: 9179298060
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description
With the current urbanization trend, there is an increased need for city development, i.e. to build apartment buildings, hospitals, schools and infrastructure in cities and urban areas to meet the rising demands. At the same time, land is increasingly seen as a finite resource. This has led to the regeneration of decommissioned industrial-use land for development purposes. This means that multiple individual construction projects are being built in the same or nearby areas during the same time-period. However, the end products of construction projects are produced at their place of consumption, which means that large quantities of materials and resources need to be delivered to, and removed from, each construction site. This leads to new transport flows being created in connection to city development. These transport flows need to be coordinated to ensure efficient construction productivity and reduce the transports’ environmental and social impact on the urban transport system. At the same time, it is important to ensure that construction sites can be managed from a logistics perspective without impairing efficiency due to the challenges of building in urban environments. One way of managing logistics to and from construction projects in city development is through so-called construction logistics setups (CLS). However, the implementation of CLS’s affect many different stakeholders and the interorganizational relationships between them. The implementation of CLS’s therefore faces three challenges; management of transport to and from construction sites, management of logistics at construction sites, and managing the interorganizational relationships amongst construction project stakeholders. The development of CLS’s is often undertaken by mimicking previous setups as there is currently no guiding procedure for developing and implementing CLS’s. To reduce the ad hoc approach to developing and implementing CLS’s, the purpose of this dissertation is to propose a framework for developing construction logistics setups. The purpose is fulfilled with the aid of the following four research questions: RQ1: Taking the perspectives of different stakeholders’, why are CLS’s implemented? RQ2: What type of CLS services are offered? RQ3: How can performance effects of CLS’s be measured? RQ4: How do CLS’s affect the identified challenges of managing the transports to and from construction sites, managing logistics at construction sites, and managing the interorganizational relationships amongst construction project stakeholders? To answer the research questions, three main methodologies have been used; literature reviews to inform the background of the studies and develop analytical frameworks, and case study and Delphi research for the empirical studies. In fulfilling the research purpose, the findings of this dissertation suggests that when developing a CLS, three activities need to be considered; 1. setting the scope of the CLS, 2. deciding on the structure of the CLS, and 3. managing the interorganizational relationships of the CLS. These activities are the foundation of the developed framework. The contents of the activities were derived through the research questions. When answering RQ1, it was found that contractors implement CLS’s to ensure construction productivity, developers implement CLS’s to reduce disturbances to businesses and residents nearby, and municipalities implement CLS’s to reduce disturbances to third-parties and to reduce the impact from construction logistics on the urban transport system. These stakeholder drivers for implementing CLS’s will impact the scope of the CLS. Furthermore, the scope of the CLS was found to be dependent on both the contextual considerations of the CLS in terms of physical context at site and in terms of what is being built, as well as the organizational context in terms of what stakeholders are part of the project, where in the hierarchy the CLS is located, and what level of mandate the CLS has. The scope will also set the terms for how transports are managed through the CLS. If for instance there is limited space at site, this can imply that time-planned deliveries are favoured. In answering RQ2, it was found that as a consequence of what transport management approach is chosen, the structure of the CLS will differ. This dissertation shows that asset-based setups are similar to traditional logistics outsourcing and TPL in which physical distribution services are offered. Non-asset based services on the other hand act more as supply chain orchestrators similar to fourth-party logistics service providers. In these cases, supplied services are aimed more at ensuring that the right services and capabilities can be procured for the CLS. One value-adding service that was found crucial to include in CLS’s is a joint booking and planning system. Having this type of support systems will allow the CLS to coordinate the different stakeholders connected to the CLS. Related to the structure of the CLS, RQ3 suggest that performance needs to be monitored for deliveries, on-site logistics, and the coordination of logistics activities on and off site. The performance monitoring needs to be developed from a logistics point-of-view, taking into consideration the different stakeholders’ perspectives. Finally, in answering RQ4, it was found that a CLS can affect the identified challenges positively. In essence, a CLS aims at managing construction logistics and if developed and implemented from this notion, transports to and from site as well as on-site logistics management can become more efficient. Additionally, the dissertation shows that CLS’s can help in managing the interorganizational relationships within the construction project(s). However, this builds on the notion of having well-developed and communicated service offerings and regulations, e.g. through business and governance models. It was also found that the activities of the framework are interrelated and dependent on one another, suggesting that developing construction logistics setups is an iterative process. The proposed framework should thus be seen as a guideline for how to develop the setup, allowing for adaptations of the setup to the context for which it is developed. Med pågående urbaniseringstrend finns det ett ökat behov av att bygga bostadshus, sjukhus, skolor och infrastruktur i stadsområden för att möta de ökande behoven. Samtidigt ses mark allt mer som en ändlig resurs. Detta har lett till att avvecklad industriell mark tas i anspråk för förtätning och storskaliga stadsutvecklingsprojekt där flera enskilda byggprojekt byggs i närliggande områden under samma tidsperiod. Byggprojekt produceras dock på konsumtionsplatsen vilket innebär att stora mängder material och resurser måste levereras till och tas bort från varje byggarbetsplats. Detta leder i sin tur till att nya transportflöden skapas i samband med stadsutveckling. Dessa måste samordnas för att säkerställa effektiv byggproduktion samtidigt som transporternas miljömässiga och sociala påverkan på det urbana transportsystemet kan minskas. Samtidigt är det viktigt att byggarbetsplatserna kan hanteras ur ett logistikperspektiv utan försämrad effektivitet på grund av det urbana läget. Ett sätt att hantera logistiken till och från byggprojekt inom stadsutveckling är genom så kallade bygglogistiklösningar (BLL). Dock påverkar införandet av BLL många olika intressenter och de interorganisatoriska relationer dem emellan. Införandet av BLL ställs därför inför tre utmaningar; att hantera transporter till och från byggprojekt, att hantera logistiken på byggarbetsplatser och att samordna de interorganisatoriska relationerna mellan byggprojektets intressenter. Utvecklandet av BLL utgår ofta från tidigare lösningar då det i nuläget saknas riktlinjer för hur man kan utveckla och implementera lösningarna. För att minska den här ad hoc-strategin för utvecklandet av BLL är syftet med denna avhandling att föreslå ett ramverk för att utveckla bygglogistiklösningar. Syftet uppnås med hjälp av följande forskningsfrågor: FF1: Utifrån olika intressenters perspektiv, varför implementeras bygglogistiklösningar? FF2: Vilken typ av bygglogistiktjänster erbjuds? FF3: Hur kan bygglogistiklösningars prestanda mätas? FF4: Hur påverkas de tre identifierade utmaningarna av implementeringen av bygglogistiklösningar? Hur påverkar bygglogistiklösningar de identifierade utmaningarna med att hantera transporter till och från byggprojekt, att hantera arbetsplatslogistiken och att samordna de interorganisatoriska relationerna mellan byggprojektets intressenter? För att besvara forskningsfrågorna har tre huvudmetoder använts; litteraturgranskningar för studiernas bakgrund och att utveckla analytiska ramverk, och fallstudieforskning och Delphi-forskning för de empiriska studierna. I uppfyllandet av syftet föreslår avhandlingen att tre aktiviteter måste övervägas när man utvecklar en BLL; 1. fastställa omfattningen av BLL, 2. besluta om BLL-strukturen och 3. hantera interorganisatoriska relationerna i BLL. Dessa aktiviteter är grunden för det utvecklade ramverket. Innehållet i aktiviteterna härleddes genom forskningsfrågorna. I besvarandet av FF1 befanns att entreprenörer implementerar BLL:er för att säkerställa byggproduktivitet, byggherrar implementerar BLL:er för att minska störningar för företag och boende i närheten, och kommuner implementerar BLL:er för att minska störningar för tredje part och för att minska påverkan från bygglogistik på det urbana transportsystemet. De identifierade drivkrafterna för att implementera BLL:er kommer även att påverka BLL:ens struktur. Avhandlingen visar att BLL-strukturen är beroende av kontextuella överväganden med avseende på arbetsplatsens fysiska egenskaper samt vad som byggs, såväl som den organisatoriska kontexten med avseende på vilka intressenter som är del av projektet, var i hierarkin BLL:en placeras och vilken mandatnivå BLL:en har. BLLomfattningen sätter även villkoren för hur transporter hanteras i projektet. Om utrymmet exempelvis är begränsat kan detta innebära att tidsplanerade leveranser premieras. I besvarandet av FF2 befanns det att en konsekvens av hur transporthanteringen läggs upp så kommer BLL-strukturen att påverkas. Den här avhandlingen visar att fysiska logistiklösningar liknar traditionell outsourcing av logistik och TPL där fysiska distributionstjänster erbjuds. Icke-fysiska logistiklösningar fungerar mer som försörjningskedjeorkestratorer och påminner om fjärdepartslogistiktleverantörer. I dessa fall syftar de erbjudna tjänsterna mer till att säkerställa att rätt tjänster och kapacitet kan erbjudas genom BLL. En värdeadderande tjänst fanns vara en grundförutsättning för BLL:er, nämligen gemensamma boknings- och planeringssystem. Ett sådant system hjälper BLL-operatören i koordinationen av de olika intressenterna som är kopplade till BLL:en. I framtagandet av BLL-strukturen föreslår FF3 även att logistikprestanda måste följas upp i processerna leveranser, arbetsplatslogistik och samordning av logistikaktiviteter på och utanför byggarbetsplatsen. Prestationsutvärderingen måste utvecklas ur ett logistikhänseende med hänsyn tagen till de olika intressenternas perspektiv. Slutligen, i besvarandet av FF4, befanns att en BLL kan påverka de identifierade utmaningarna positivt. I grund och botten syftar en BLL till att hantera bygglogistik och om BLL:en utvecklas och implementeras utifrån detta synsätt kan transporter till och från byggarbetsplats samt logistikhantering på plats bli effektivare. Vidare visar avhandlingen att BLL:er kan hjälpa till att hantera de interorganisatoriska relationerna inom byggprojekten. Detta bygger dock på att man har väl utvecklade och kommunicerade serviceerbjudanden med tillhörande regelverk för hur service skall användas. Dessa bör kommuniceras genom affärs- och styrningsmodeller. Det konstaterades också att ramverkets aktiviteter är inbördes relaterade och beroende av varandra, vilket tyder på att utvecklandet av bygglogistiklösningar är en iterativ process. Det föreslagna ramverket bör därför ses som riktlinjer för hur man utvecklar BLL, vilket möjliggör för anpassningar av lösningen till det sammanhang för vilken den utvecklas.

Author: Ēlias Beriatos
Publisher: WIT Press (UK)
ISBN:
Category : Environmental policy
Languages : en
Pages : 1054

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Book Description
Addressing spatial planning and regional development in an integrated way as well as in accordance with the principles of sustainability, this book contains the proceedings of the first international conference on this subject.

Author: Gonzalez-Feliu, Jesus
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1522582932
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
Because it deals with sustainably supplying cities and reducing congestion and pollution related to goods transport in urban areas, city logistics is an important field in transportation sciences. These logistics systems need to be sustainable and reliable to ensure the continued flow of goods. Logistics and Transport Modeling in Urban Goods Movement is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on the main approaches and techniques used in urban goods transport modelling while addressing planning and management issues. Highlighting topics such as urban logistics, vehicle routing, and greenhouse emissions, this book is ideally designed for civil/transport engineers, planners, transport economists, geographers, computer scientists, practitioners, professionals, researchers, and students seeking current research on urban goods modelling.

Author: Eiichi Taniguchi
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 148220889X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
City Logistics: Mapping The Future examines the key concepts of city logistics along with the associated implementation issues, methodologies, and policy measures. Chronicling the growth of city logistics as a discipline and how planning and policy have improved practice over the last ten years, it details the technologies, policies, and plans that can reduce traffic congestion, environmental impact, and the cost of logistics activities in urban freight transportation systems. The book provides a comprehensive study of the modelling, planning, and evaluation of urban freight transport. It includes case studies from the US, UK, Netherlands, Japan, South Africa, and Australia that illustrate the experiences of cities that have already implemented city logistics, including the methods used to solve the complex issues relating to urban freight transport. Presents procedures for evaluating city logistics policy measures Provides an overview of intelligent transport systems in city logistics Highlights the essential features of joint delivery systems and off-hour delivery programs Supplies an overview of access restrictions and regulations related to city logistics in urban areas Expert contributors from major cities around the world discuss regional developments, share success stories and personal experiences, and highlight emerging trends in urban logistics. Coverage includes mathematical modeling, public policy planning and implementation, logistics in urban planning designs, and urban distribution centers. The book examines the impact of recent advancements in technology on city logistics, including information and communication technologies, intelligent transport systems, and GPS. It also considers future directions in city logistics, including humanitarian logistics, alternative transport modes in co-modality, last kilometer deliveries, partnerships between public and private sectors, alternative fuel vehicles, and emerging technologies such as 3D printing.

Author: Markus Hesse
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317038118
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The on-time delivery of goods is regarded as a primary factor of the urban economy and is being monitored by businesses and government alike. However, much analysis of freight transportation and the flow of goods into, out of and within urban areas focuses on functional, business-related approaches. This book examines the interrelationship between logistics development on one hand and urban development and geographical issues, such as land use and location, on the other. Avoiding certain one-dimensional views on 'logistics impacts on the city', it discloses the complex interaction of the logistics system with the entire urban environment. It also bridges the gap between recent geographical research into new production systems and (post)modern consumption patterns. Illustrated with case studies from the United States, Germany, France, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom, it examines issues such as: the historical nexus between urban areas and logistics; current urban developments with regards to goods distribution; city-region related characteristics of freight flows; locational dynamics; and specific freight related urban problems and conflicts.