Abstract

For the most part, urban goods transportation is neglected by urban studies and urban planning, as opposed to urban passenger transportation. This article will present outcomes of a research project whose goal is to develop an efficient decision-making tool for urban logistics from a spatial and territorial perspective, based on urban modelling and geographical analyses. The hypothesis of this research project is that understanding urban freight through spatial structures will contribute to improving territorial diagnosis, which is essential to the understanding of urban goods distribution issues before any decision can be made and will result in specific and efficient last-mile delivery solutions. This article will describe the methodology of the decision-making tool, and discuss its limitations, inputs and perspectives.

Abstract

Urban freight transport takes an increasingly important place in the urban mobility strategy. Experiments to optimize the movement of goods inside the city do not miss. Many relate to traditional goods, without being concerned with an activity in particular, others on the contrary target a precise sector i.e. fresh products, spare parts, etc. Since few years, new actors based on innovative scheme of distribution for the last-miles are merging, in the urban parcel distribution in particular. The whole actors and theirs strategies are changing to be nearer to the customer demand, shaping new logistic organisations. The purpose of this paper is to give an updated overview of the urban parcel delivery sector in France and some elements to discuss about the changes and new opportunities in this particular sector.