Author archives

Urban living labs: a living lab way of working

Urban living labs have become a popular phenomenon. The Living Lab approach would provide real life research with its multiple stakeholders in a co-innovating inclusive setting, crucial in creating metropolitan solutions with impact, that will be adopted smoothly and swiftly by all involved, and thus help achieve prosperous living environments that are more liveable, sustainable, …

Performance based regulation: is ‘intelligent access’ the future in regulating city logistics?

The further development of local policies to stimulate more CO2-productivity in city logistics and a shift to zero-emission city logistics is inevitable: growing political and societal pressure demands it. This push can already be recognized in the existing variety of local regulations, customized to different local circumstances in different cities or parts of cities.

Paris ‘front door to logistics’

With construction having started in the spring, the Paris multimodal logistics centre will be opening its doors soon. Fleet Street reports about it: We used to think that they were unwelcome in town centres, driven once and for all into more or less distant suburbs: however, logistics facilities are making their come back in the very …

HoReCa deliveries in Paris (F): are more regulations better?

Regulatory policies aim at reducing the negative effects of urban freight transportation, especially those related to traffic, emissions and noise. Nonetheless, stakeholders in city logistics often have divergent objectives, which lead to difficulties upon defining the best possible choices regarding regulation. A new paper on HoReCa deliveries in Paris by MINES ParisTech presents a multi-agent …

The electric trams moves goods around European cities

Across Europe there are examples of existing tram networks being used to attract businesses to use the network for urban freight transport. Could this extension help make a success of trams in other cities in the years ahead? The Guardian reports about a number of European initiatives in Dresden (D) and Saint-Étienne (F). These cities using …

Dutch research on the use of light commercial vehicles

The light commercial vehicle, or delivery van, is the workhorse of both companies and the self-employed in the Dutch economy. And with good reason: it is a multifunctional and flexible mode of transport and compared to (smaller) trucks and cars it is also cheap to buy and use. Moreover, a ‘lighter’ drivers license B is sufficient to …