Construction transport has a severe environmental impact. Address the environmental problems requires that the complexity of construction, including the many different actors and their goals, is captured. A paper by Anna Fredriksson and Maria Huge-Brodin aims to propose a new conceptual model for construction logistics systems to advance the transition to more environmentally friendly construction transport.
The conceptual model was developed based on different theoretical frameworks and improved based on practitioner’s workshops. The conceptual model is based on five interconnected layers of activities: urban land use, construction supply chain, transport and infrastructure, and three subsystems.
The model indicates on what layers different actors in the subsystems act and how different actors can influence the environmental performance of construction logistics systems by their decisions. Concerning similar multi-layer models, construction logistics also need to embrace municipal actors. For example, traffic planning may offer available infrastructure to improve fill rates and energy efficiency, but fill rate is the direct result of the supplier’s decisions, which is indirectly affected by the main contractor’s schedule. In particular, the modal split is influenced by a range of decisions by different actors, complicating the selection of a more environmentally friendly transport mode.
Source: Anna Fredriksson, Maria Huge-Brodin, Green construction logistics – a multi-actor challenge, Research in Transportation Business & Management, 2022, 100830, ISSN 2210-5395,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2022.100830.