by Walther Ploos van Amstel
Imagine a city where delivery trucks no longer clog your streets, where parcels, retail goods, and logistics freight glide silently through underground corridors, arriving on time, every time, without a single exhaust pipe in sight. It sounds futuristic, but a new review published in Smart Cities (2026) suggests this vision is closer to reality than …
Here’s a roundup of the most relevant city logistics news from last week and the past few weeks: Urban Consolidation Centers: No Silver Bullet A recent analysis by the Dutch Kennisinstituut voor Mobiliteitsbeleid (KiM), published on 21 March, provides a systematic review of urban consolidation centers (city hubs) and reaches a key conclusion: their effectiveness …
As e-commerce continues to reshape urban life, city streets are under growing pressure. Every online order ends with a delivery truck searching for somewhere to stop. A new study published in Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives offers a rare look at that moment from the driver’s seat. Researchers from Oregon State University and the University of …
London has a congestion problem, a pollution problem, and an illegal e-bike problem. A newly launched coalition thinks a shared network of urban microhubs can tackle all three at once. The Urban Microhub Alliance (UMA) officially kicked off in London this week, uniting e-mobility operator Port with delivery firms and parking operators including Deliveroo, Apcoa, …
Summary of: Kokkinou, A., Quak, H. & Mitas, O. (2026). “Leveraging fairness to nudge consumers towards more sustainable last mile delivery options.” Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 37, 101956. Every time a consumer clicks “next-day delivery,” they make a choice with real urban consequences; more vans, more congestion, more emissions. Getting consumers to voluntarily choose slower, …
As e-commerce volumes grow and decarbonisation pressure intensifies, the question of which last-mile logistics innovations are worth investing in has never been more pressing. A new peer-reviewed study published in the European Transport Research Review offers some of the most structured expert guidance to date — and the findings may surprise both logistics operators and …
The Cargo Sous Terrain-CST working paper presents a forward-looking vision of a multimodal freight transport system that integrates rail, road, inland waterways, and urban logistics into a coherent, high-performance network. The core argument is clear: current freight systems are too fragmented, too road-dependent, and insufficiently aligned with sustainability and capacity constraints. What does the future …
Urban freight transport is increasingly at the center of policy and research debates, driven by rising e-commerce demand, urban densification, and the introduction of zero-emission zones across European cities. A recent analysis by the Dutch Kennisinstituut voor Mobiliteitsbeleid (KiM) provides a systematic and evidence-based perspective on one of the most discussed solutions: urban consolidation centers, …
The 14th International Conference on City Logistics will take place from 19–21 May 2027 in the Algarve, Portugal. Following the 2025 edition in Penang, this conference remains a leading global platform for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in urban freight and city logistics. The conference will be hosted at the Hilton Vilamoura As Cascatas Golf Resort …
E-commerce has changed urban logistics fundamentally. Orders are smaller, destinations are more dispersed, and customers expect fast delivery within narrow time windows. The result is familiar in many cities: more vans on the streets, lower vehicle utilisation, and increasing pressure on urban space. In his recent PhD research, Fabio Mercurio explores how delivery companies respond …