The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the CityFreight study, a research project on inter- and intra-urban freight distribution systems co-financed by the European Commission's Research DG under the Fifth Framework Programme, Key Action 4 "City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage". The aim of CityFreight was to analyse and report on initiatives implemented or envisaged, in different cities across Europe, with a view to improving urban logistics. In the three-year time span of the study, more than twenty different urban logistics initiatives and projects across Europe were assessed in detail, using a methodology that was developed by the project and for the project and focused on the socio-economic and environmental impacts of changes in freight transport and door-to-door delivery. This paper: presents a list of criteria and a structured assessment methodology for evaluating urban logistics schemes and the related accompanying policies (legal framework, land use planning, road traffic regulation, pricing, etc.); provides guidance to the interested stakeholders (government, regional, or local authorities, network operators, shippers and consignees) on the advantages and drawbacks of recent initiatives and innovative concepts in the field, provides a series of typologies that are used not only to categorise the various solutions identified and tested but also to map urban logistics choices and serve as a decision support tool. Presents the key findings and the lessons learned from CityFreight in a way that is as thought-provoking and practical as possible. For the covering abstract please see ITRD E135207.
Abstract