Project R-5578

Flemish research project: Urban Logistics & Mobility (Research)

Flanders a highly urbanised region with a population of about 6 million inhabitants and a population density of approximately 445 inhabitants per km² owes its prosperity to an important part of activities that occur in or are linked to cities. In recent decades, the region was faced with a sharp increase in passenger and cargo traffic. Most of this traffic is still settled on de road. This strong growth especially in and around the cities inevitably causes problems of accessibility, safety and quality of life. The challenge is to combine a sustainable organization of transport, logistics and mobility between, to and from, and in the cities with a strengthening of the competitive position of the sector and logistics chains. The aim with this research is to build bridges between logistics chain, space, economy, environment and mobility in an urban context. This integrated approach is innovative in the scientific literature. Such an approach will also lead to a more sustainable and smarter urban distribution and increases the quality of life in the cities. Specifically, this project aims to achieve the following objectives: >> combine the knowledge contained in the Flemish universities and centres of excellence on this theme; >> bring together and analyze data that contribute to the development of a policy that makes sure that cities and their surroundings contribute to sustainable mobility and logistics in Flanders; >> develop instruments and strategies whereby city distribution contributes to the strengthening of the logistics sector in and outside the cities; >> develop tools that permit to evaluate the effects of policies that focus on urban sustainability and mobility in the global framework of mobility and logistics in Flanders; >> in a number of case studies comparing and applying the knowledge gained at companies; >> allow Flemish universities and knowledge centres to further develop their expertise so that they can play an important role in the international research on urban mobility and logistics.

01 July 2014 - 30 June 2016