City logistics in living laboratories
Goods, waste and service trips in urban areas impose negative traffic and environmental impacts, and there is a need for further roll-out of cost-effective and sustainable solutions. The CITYLAB objective is to develop knowledge and solutions that result in roll-out, up-scaling and further implementation of cost effective strategies, measures and tools for emission free city logistics in urban centres by 2030. The project focuses on four axes for intervention due to their present and future relevance and impact related to topic MG-5.2 objectives: 1) Highly fragmented last-mile deliveries in city centres; 2) Large freight attractors and public administrations; 3) Urban waste, return trips and recycling; 4) Logistics facilities and warehouses. CITYLAB will i) improve basic knowledge and understanding on areas of freight distribution and service trips in urban areas that have received too little attention; ii) test and implement 7 innovative solutions that are promising in terms of impact on traffic, externalities and business profitability and have a high potential for future growth; and iii) provide a platform for replication and spreading supported solutions. The core of CITYLAB is a set of living laboratories, where cities work as contexts for innovation and implementation processes for public and private measures contributing to increased efficiency and sustainable urban logistics. Linkages will be established between the different living labs for exchange of experiences and to develop methodologies for transfer of implementations between cities and between companies. This process will be supported by a strong research team. The outputs from the living labs will include best practice guidance on innovative approaches and how to replicate them. CITYLAB will lay the ground for roll-out, up-scaling and transfer of cost-effective policies and implementations that lead to increased load factors and reduced vehicle movements of freight and service trips in urban areas.