Freight villages and comparable initiatives : relevance for urban transport.

The European Commission has made intermodal transport a focal point in its recent policy documents, because it is regarded as more sustainable than road-only transport. In urban transport intermodal transport hardly plays a role; network performance and logistic requirements of shippers, receivers and transport companies are not in line with each other. A key issue is insufficient access to intermodal facilities and networks. Improving access to intermodal facilities and networks actually involves integrating transport and land-use policy. This topic is especially relevant at the level of cities and regions, because that is where most consumers live and where road use is the highest. Integrating transport and land-use policy is difficult; policy-making is rather defragmented, dealing with specific issues, amalgating different interests and unable to see the relations between them. Co-ordination is however possible, but not by means of grand (top-down) designs, but by a more piecemeal approach. In this paper the author looks into the intermodal potential of freight villages, Guterverkehrszentren and interporti, and their role as 'freeway' to cities. The reasons behind their development and their 'sustainability potential' are discussed, while these alternatives are compared in order to find commonalities and differences. The paper then goes into policy issues and finishes with recommendations for further study in this area. For the covering abstract see ITRD E120462.