Urban Freight Transportation and Logistics

Dear Colleagues,

Following the last global crisis, dating back around a decade ago (2008–2009), the freight transport sector has recovered, over time, part of its productivity through technological progress. In an extremely competitive market, close to a structural change mainly dictated by the usage of new digital technologies, the sanitary emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has completely altered the structure of the demand for goods (i.e., grocery, health products, medical devices, entertainments, and electronics) and the supply of dedicated services, upsetting both.

Starting from the analysis of the evolutionary trends of urban freight transport as a whole in recent years, this Special issue is meant to address all key issues affecting the freight transport and logistics in urban areas, by investigating crucial matters dealing with:

• The main drivers affecting the logistic efficiency, also focusing on the last-mile segment (e.g., distances to be covered/distribution networks, vehicle saturation, loading/unloading waiting times, reverse logistics);
• The role of innovation and digitalization for a more sustainable logistic-distribution system, referred to as environmental and social sustainability (e.g., sharing of warehouses/transit points, sharing of transport means; use of green fuels; driving ecological);
• Actions taken at the supply side, in the short term, in response to the health emergency, by proposing a selection/analysis of good practices;
• New opportunities and/or perspectives for a “new sustainability” for urban freight transport, proposing key measures aimed at increasing the resilience of the logistic-distribution chain.

In addition to the above, the fact should also be considered that, due to the high impact of movement and delivery of goods on the livability of cities, a further key challenge is coping with the reduction of negative externalities, i.e., air and noise pollution, congestions, accidents, soil consumption, thus implying an improvement of the related ecological footprint.

Dr. Cristiana Piccioni
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• city logistics
• last-mile delivery
• logistics efficiency
• productivity and technological progress
• environmental sustainability
• social sustainability
• livability of cities
• resilience
• ecological footprint
• markets’ reactions to sanitary emergency