Streets & Urban logistics

STREETS & URBAN LOGISTICS – Streets are in constant transformation. Recent street projects show fundamental mutations, transforming car-centric spaces into places for social activities, with room for ecology and climate adaptation. As a result, the space allocated to urban logistics is also changing. In some streets this comes with serious challenges. These include not only last-mile delivery, but also ensuring access for emergency vehicles like ambulances and fire brigades, for house-related services like plumbers or electricians, for waste collection, or for a moving truck that needs to reach a house. In the narratives of designers and planners, urban logistics is often forgotten or plays a minor role in project-related considerations.
In streets with low traffic density, it is quite acceptable to stop in the driving lane, especially if unloading times are very short. However, in high-density urban areas with a high functional mix, urban logistics can be critical, leading to congestion delays, lower service rates in certain zones, inadequate use of public space (e.g., illegal parking on pedestrian areas or cycling lanes), nuances from traffic flows, and higher charges for services and deliveries to final customers.
A good and balanced integration of urban logistics is not merely a functional task, but is also essential to create and improve everyday streets as vibrant social and natural places.

RESEARCH – This research presents the findings of a design research project on the impact of urban logistics on street design. The research began with the key question: how is urban logistics influencing streets? The growing demand for last-mile deliveries, together with the densification of many urban areas, is reshaping the topic – potentially leading to more conflicts in the public space. It is therefore essential to understand its logic and spatial impact.
This book showcases the variety and complexity related to the new challenges and demands of urban logistics, from the angle of liveable streets. It provides an overview of a broad spectrum of urban logistics and its spatiality: at the level of the neighbourhood, the street, and its components.
The book is structured in three chapters. The first chapter, Urban Logistics, unfolds the variety of all kinds of urban logistics, the vehicle types, the demanded spaces, the various logistic systems, and their position on the street. The methodology presented in the following chapter, Urban Plans & Logistics, demonstrates how urban logistics can be taken into account in urban planning processes, and how it can be mapped, in numbers and drawings. The last chapter, Street Design, presents a design toolbox to support the integration of urban logistics in a balanced manner at the street level.

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