Urban freight transport from a local authority perspective – a literature review

Abstract

On the path towards sustainability for the urban area, local authorities make decisions that affect freight transport. However, in many ways, urban freight transport is a neglected issue. The purpose of this paper is to map out the current status of urban freight transport research from a local authority perspective. A literature review is performed, looking through research in urban freight transport during the last 15 years. The review presents a large amount of references and it is clear that the area of urban freight transport has gained a larger interest during the later part of the time period studied. Research mainly focuses on freight measures (pilot actions) performed in an urban context, but the local authority perspective is lacking in many aspect s. The review shows some areas that local authorities need to consider when working with freight transport in the urban area, according to the literature: measures; monitoring and evaluation; performance indicators; transfer of knowledge between cities/cou ntries; and, stakeholder involvement.