The sustainable last mile

Abstract

In this report, a proposal for a sustainable last mile is given. Inner city logistics brings many problems with it regarding livability in the city; polluting vans standing in the way on the road or the sidewalk and driving too fast because of high demands of the consumer and competitive nature of carriers. Unsustainable practices are being dealt with in regulations (in the Netherlands) such as the Zero Emission Stadslogistiek. The aim of the Zero Emission Urban Logistics is to reduce emissions of CO2, NOx and particulate matter due to urban traffic to 0%. In addition, parties want to reduce noise pollution.
More sustainable transport like cargo bikes or light electric vehicles could play a role in solving these problems on the relatively short term. However, because they typically have smaller capacity and have smaller ranges than the vans that are currently used they are not the default solution for consignment in the city; distribution centres nowadays typically lie too far away from the end consignee to effectively employ these type of vehicles.
The fact that distribution centres lie so far away from the city stems from more latent problem of the last mile; its inaccessible and un-communal nature.
In this project I propose 7 ‘design activities’ in response of the aforementioned problems: cooperation, incentivisation, standardisation, decentralisation, integration (in the city), automation and consolidation. Based on these design activities I proposed three types of urban consolidation centres that facilitate smaller types of transport while at the same time considering the aforementioned design activities.