CIVITAS Policy Note: Making urban freight logistics more sustainable

Summary

The CIVITAS Policy Note “Making urban freight more sustainable” aims to raise awareness and increase knowledge of urban freight issues and challenges by providing a general overview of urban freight issues and definitions, as well as indications of future trends.

Freight distribution is a vital part of life in modern cities and plays a relevant role within the whole urban mobility system. Among the different components of urban mobility, urban freight logistics is traditionally considered as the least sustainable because of its evident negative impacts (generating noise and pollutant emissions, increasing congestion and posing a threat to the safety of road users). This is why it is necessary to encourage the reflection upon these issues, the sharing of experiences and best practices between cities and the raising of awareness among decision makers in order to trigger alternative, more sustainable, approaches to urban freight planning.

This Policy Note therefore provides evidence to support the activities of actors and stakeholders when making crucial decisions on, and planning for, urban freight logistics, through presenting a selection of measures offering a variety of possible solutions to be implemented by local small- to medium-sized European cities in order to achieve more sustainable urban freight transport.