Supply chains, city logistics, and freight transport have been pressured to improve productivity, quality, and sustainability. But unfortunately, conventional practice methods cannot respond to this industry’s ever-growing challenges and needs. The development of contemporary city logistics education has the utmost importance.
New methods/technologies have emerged to respond to this issue, making urban freight logistics a more contemporary, interdisciplinary, and technology-integrated field. Nevertheless, the application of new methods/technologies and developments in the field are not fully integrated into training/education programs. The key developments in freight logistics education suggest a substantial divide between the industry’s needs and requirements—and what is being offered to students within the current programs.
A recent study utilized a systematic literature review and thematic and content analyses to interrogate and explore the developments within city logistics practices. It compared them with the current developments in the literature on freight logistics training/education programs—to identify the gaps and limitations within the body of knowledge. The findings reveal that the literature on city logistics education lacks comprehensive education on the spatial systems of moving freight in urban areas and is falling behind the current developments within the industry.
This study highlights a substantial gap in the body of knowledge on urban freight logistics education, given that many current studies focus on freight logistics as a topic with no/limited consideration of the rapidly changing urban context.