Measures for sustainable freight transportation at urban scale: expected goals and tested results in Europe

Around the world, interest in urban and metropolitan goods movements is increasing because they account for a substantial share of traffic in urban and metropolitan areas. In this context, many city administrators have implemented measures to mitigate the negative effects of freight transportation. Starting from an analysis of existing studies relative to freight policies implemented at the urban scale in Europe, this paper proposes a general classification of measures adopted at the urban scale and an analysis of expected goals and tested results. Each described measure is analyzed by considering the temporal reference scale (strategic, tactical, and operative) of the actors and decision makers involved. Each measure pursues and is linked to one or more expected goal, and the empirical results obtained in the European cities and demonstrated by specific indicators representing the goal are presented.