by Walther Ploos van Amstel
Urban streets are contested public spaces due to their limited capacity and the diverse functions they serve. Despite their multifunctionality, the needs of specific users—such as freight and delivery services—have historically been neglected in urban space allocation policies, often at the expense of overall livability. Recently, freight curbside management has emerged as a strategy to …
CIDAUT, in collaboration with the Valladolid City Council, is implementing various initiatives to enhance urban transportation, making it smarter and more sustainable. Among these initiatives, which encompass connectivity solutions and the decarbonization of mobility, researchers would like to introduce one focused on monitoring vehicles utilizing designated charge and discharge parking slots, particularly intended for last-mile …
Managing freight activities at curbsides has become a contentious issue as various stakeholders compete to access public urban space. While previous research has proposed solutions to alleviate conflicts arising from freight-related space use, there remains a need for a deeper understanding of how these interventions contribute to cities’ sustainable development goals. A new study presents …
Urban public space commonly accommodates freight delivery operations through on-street (un)loading zones (LZ). Given the scarcity of public space and its demand by various users, city authorities face the challenge of effectively managing LZ by understanding freight curbside needs and utilization. Despite the popularity of technological solutions and enforcement practices among policymakers to capture curbside …
Given trends in urbanization, e-commerce, active mobility, and modal shifts, streets have sprung up as scenes of conflict where competing demands for curbside space have increased. Because public space is limited, urban transport planners are called to solve public space conflicts by defining how much space is allocated to specific users to achieve sustainable cities. …
While the number of deliveries has been increasing rapidly, infrastructure such as parking and building configurations has changed less quickly, given limited space and funds. This may lead to an imbalance between supply and demand, preventing the current resources from meeting the future needs of urban freight activities. A study by the Department of Civil …
Exploding demand for curb space in urban areas has inspired new technologies like ‘digital smart zones’ that help cities manage those narrow but increasingly valuable tracts of real estate. Allowing delivery trucks to automatically reserve the precise chunk of concrete they need (two minutes from now or for the next two hours) helps keep traffic …
The Urban Freight Lab has developed an Urban Goods Delivery Toolkit, designed as a one-stop-shop for cities and transportation researchers across the U.S. to improve functionality in the Final 50 Feet segment, reducing both load/unload parking space productivity and failed first delivery attempts.
Urban curb-space is a scarce resource that must satisfy the concurrent needs of an increasing number of users, including passenger, commercial, ride-hailing, and public transit vehicles. In particular, there is an increasing demand for curb-space for commercial vehicles to park, load/unload, and deliver goods as more people live in urban areas, order more things online, …
Cities all around the world are observing increasing levels of urban freight activities owing to the growth of internet shopping combined with the traditional distribution to shops, creating additional problems in terms of congestions and environmental impacts.