Abstract
The growth of the urban population leads to increased demand for construction and renovation works in cities. Housing, public utilities, retail spaces, offices, and infrastructure projects are needed to meet the increasing number of residents and visitors, urban functions, and changing standards. While construction projects contribute to more attractive, sustainable, and economically viable urban areas, a vast amount of construction materials needs to be delivered to site. According to Guerlain et al. (2019), a construction site receives 2–10 deliveries or 8–10 tonnes of material per day. The impact of construction transport and urban development logistics is thus significant and, according to Guerlain et al. (2019), accounts for at least 30% of urban freight transports and impacts the surrounding community negatively (e.g. congestion, emissions, noise, use of public space, accidents) if not managed appropriately. With urbanisation, the amount of construction transport, and its related disturbances, is likely to increase (Deloison et al., 2020). Thus, there is a need to minimise the disturbances and emissions caused by construction logistics. One course of action is to decrease the number of construction transports or adapt their routing through planning. Transport planning is dependent on the planning of the construction works, but also on the city’s urban planning and existing legislation. Furthermore, construction transports are not independent from the rest of the urban logistics system and actions taken in other parts of the logistics system can severely impact the total number of transport movements and thereby the overall transport system’s efficiency. The latter is essential to reach UN SDG13 (taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts) for which improved planning shows great potential to increase transport efficiency (Eriksson, 2019). One often utilized approach to plan and control construction logistics activities is to employ construction logistics setups (CLSs). However, these initiatives rarely consider that end-users of the CLS, i.e., contractors, prioritize other goals than reduced disturbances. These perspectives clash as an overview is missing of the interactions and decisions taken during urban development that affect and are affected by construction logistics planning and management. The purpose of this paper is to develop a Smart Construction Logistics Governance Framework, providing a systems overview and guidance on tools to be used when deciding how to organize construction logistics in urban development. The paper builds on a longitudinal multiple-case study with cases from Austria, Belgium, Norway, and Sweden. The cases provide insights on different tools and approaches for gathering stakeholder input, simulation and forecasting of transport volumes, what type of services are needed in urban construction projects, and different governance measures and incentives. A cross-case analysis was performed to find similarities and differences between the countries. This led to a rich understanding of how construction logistics can be approached and governed in different European contexts and what knowledge should be transferred between cities regarding urban development and construction logistics. The result of the study is a conceptual framework, presenting a systems overview of the decision routes in urban development linked to construction logistics. Additionally, the framework provides guidance for developing construction logistics tools in a multi-layered urban development governance setting. References Deloison, T., Hannon, E., Huber, A., Heid, B., Klink, C., Sahay, R. & Wolff, C. The Future of the Last-mile Ecosystem: Transition Roadmaps for Public-and Private-sector Players. 2020. World Economic Forum. Eriksson, V. 2019. Transport Efficiency: Analysing the Transport Service Triad. Licentiate, Chalmers University. Guerlain, C., Renault, S. & Ferrero, F. 2019. Understanding Construction Logistics in Urban Areas and Lowering Its Environmental Impact: A Focus on Construction Consolidation Centres. Sustainability, 11.
