Cities’ sustainability strategies seem to aim at the reduction of the negative impacts of urban freight transport. In the past decades, many public and private initiatives have struggled to gain broad stakeholder support and thus remain viable. Researchers and practitioners have only recently recognised stakeholder acceptance of urban freight solutions as a challenge. A first step in achieving convergence is to understand stakeholder needs, preferences and viewpoints. This paper proposes and applies an approach to identify the main stakeholder perspectives in the domain of urban freight transport. We use Q-methodology, which originates from social sciences and psychology, to record subjective positions and identify the dominant ones. We explain the approach, operationalise the method for the domain of urban freight transport and apply it to stakeholder groups in the Netherlands. We find four dominant perspectives, reflecting how stakeholders normally take positions in the urban freight dialogue. Important findings concern disparities between industry associations and some of their membership, divergent views about the expected role of public administration, and the observation that the behaviour of shippers and Logistics Service Providers (LSP) appears to be inconsistent with their beliefs. All these factors together can act as a barrier to the implementation of urban freight consolidation concepts. The Q-methodology is valuable for eliciting perspectives in urban freight and is a promising tool to facilitate stakeholder dialogue and, eventually, convergence.
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Innovative logistics service providers are currently looking for possibilities to introduce electric vehicles for goods distribution. As electrical vehicles still suffer from a limited operation range, the logistical process faces important challenges. In this research we advise on the composition of the electrical vehicle fleet and on the configuration of the service network, to achieve a successful implementation of electric vehicles in the innercity of Amsterdam. Additional question in our research is whether the CO2 emission reduces at all or might even increase due to an increase of tripkilometres as a consequence of mileage constraints by the batteries. The aim of the implementation of the research is to determine the ideal fleet to transport a known demand of cargo, located at a central depot, to a known set of recipients using vehicles of varying types. The problem can be classified as a Fleet Size and Mix Vehicle Routing Problem (FSMVRP). In addition to the regular constraints that apply to the regular FSMVRP, in our case also time windows apply to the cargo that needs to be transported (FSMVRPTW). The operation range of the vehicles is constrained by the battery capacity. We suggest modifications to existing formulations of the FSMVRPTW to make it suitable for the application on cases with electrical vehicles. We apply the model to create an optimal fleet configuration and the service routes. In our research case of the Cargohopper in Amsterdam, the performance of alternative fleet compositions is determined for a variety of scenarios, to assess their robustness. The main uncertainties addressed in the scenarios are the cargo composition, the operation range of the vehicles and their operation speed. Based on our research findings in Amsterdam we conclude that the current generation of electric vehicles as a part of urban consolidation concept have the ability to perform urban freight transport efficiently (19% reduction in vehicle kilometres) and meanwhile have the capability to improve air quality and reduce CO2-emissions by 90%, and reduce noise nuisance in the inner cities of our (future) towns.
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The emergence of organic planning practices in the Netherlands introduces new, non-conventional, local actors initiating bottom-up urban developments. Dissatisfied with conventional practices and using opportunities during the 2008 financial crisis, these actors aim to create social value, thus challenging prevailing institutions. Intrigued by such actors becoming more present and influential in urban planning and development processes, we aim to identify who they are. We use social entrepreneurship and niche formation theories to analyse and identify three types of social entrepreneurs. The first are early pioneers, adopting roles of a developer and end-user, but lacking position and power to realize goals. Secondly, by acting as boundary spanners and niche entrepreneurs, they evolve towards consolidated third sector organizations in the position to realize developments. A third type are intermediate agents facilitating developments as boundary spanners and policy entrepreneurs, without pursuing urban development themselves but aiming at realizing broader policy goals. Our general typology provides a rich picture of actors involved in bottom-up urban developments by applying theories from domains of innovation management and business transition management to urban planning and development studies. It shows that the social entrepreneurs in bottom-up urban development can be considered the result of social innovation, but this social innovation is set within a neoliberal context, and in many cases passively or actively conditioned by states and markets.
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