Urban population growth, internet shopping and demand for fast delivery services are increasing the amount of freight travelling through our cities. How we plan freight logistics is an important measure in creating sustainable cities.
Centre for Shipping and Logistics at NHH Norwegian School of Economics and CET – Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation, University of Bergen, are jointly starting a Research Council Funded project of freight logistics in small topologically difficult cities, with a specific view on Bergen.
CITYFREIGHT provides authorities with concrete evaluation tools for regulating freight transportation in smaller cities, as there is little practical knowledge available in the literature. It makes substantial contribution through its close connection between academia and the authorities responsible for city developments and regulations.
Our focus is different from much of the logistics literature, where the focus is on running a city logistics system as a business idea. Instead we focus on the role of the authorities, and we analyse real cases to the benefit of the City of Bergen and as a genuine test of the tools. Co-producing knowledge with user partners and stakeholders means that we will be able to use experiences of non-academic collaborators to improve knowledge for both science and for society.
The primary objective is to provide public authorities, particularly in smaller, topologically complicated, cities and initially the City of Bergen, with a toolbox for realistically evaluating major decisions that would make a city more energy efficient and sustainable in terms of freight transportation.
