City logistics

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City Logistics
City Logistics is a relatively new field of investigation brought by the challenges of moving growing quantities of freight within metropolitan areas. While cities,particularly since the industrial revolution, have always been important producers and consumers of freight, much of these activities were taking place in proximity to major transport terminals, such as portsand railyards, with limited quantities of freight entering the city per se. The functional specialization of cities, the global division of production as well as increasing standards of living are allcorrelated with larger quantities of freight coming from, bound to or transiting through urban areas. According to the Institute of City Logistics, city logistics is “the process for totally optimizingthe logistics and transport activities by private companies whith support of advance information systems in urban areas considering the traffic environment, the traffic congestion and energyconsumption within the framework of a market economy.” Simplistically, it concerns the means to achieve freight distribution in urban areas, by improving the efficiency of urban freight transportation,reducing traffic congestion and mitigating environmental impacts.
City logistics, as a distributional strategy, can take many forms. On the above figure, a high density and congested central city can beserviced by an independent freight distribution system calling from a terminal located at the margin. The vehicles used to service the customers (either for deliveries or pickups along a flexible route)are likely to be smaller and thus better adapted for distribution in an urban environment. There is also the possibility of using the existing public transit system to move freight but this impliesseveral challenges in terms of the adaptation of modes, the usage of existing passengers terminals and scheduling issues. The urban terminal itself could be a neutral facility interfacing with a set...