Freight transport in cities tends to respond effectively to economic requirements, but is a major contributor to social and environmental impacts, particularly to local air quality and noise. Urban freight activities often result in conflicts between economic and social/environmental priorities. Addressing such conflicts and trade-offs in urban freight transport requires change and innovation in the public and private sectors.

Unlike passenger transportation, research in the area of goods movement is in its infancy. The problems experienced by those providing logistics services in urban areas are not well understood. Transportation professionals, urban planners and policy-makers lack comprehensive understanding, robust data and common terminologies, all of which have major implications for the management of individual urban freight systems as well as the larger global freight network. The VREF theme Urban Freight is playing a key role in addressing this critical knowledge gap and leading efforts to raise the profile of goods movement in planning and policy arenas.

VREF supports targeted research and outreach with the goal of creating a strong international professional network that can influence government and industry decision-making. The initiative was launched with a symposium held in 2012, Urban Freight for Liveable Cities, and has since developed into a much broader effort.

Read more >>