Definition of a set of indicators to evaluate the performance of Urban goods distribution initiatives

• Type: Chapter or Part of a Book
• Date: 2011

Authors

Sandra Melo (Author) FEUP; Álvaro Costa (Author) FEUP

Book

Title: City Distribution And Urban Freight Transport - Multiple Perspectives

1º Edition

Pages: 120-147

ISBN: 9780857932747

Publisher: Edward Elgar

Indexing

Scopus - 18 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Civil engineering

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-008-JXS

DOI: 10.4337/9780857932754.00013

Resumo (PT): In the past, the topic of urban goods distribution (UGD), as well as the closely related subject of freight traffic, has been overlooked by researchers and planners. It has been treated mainly as a marginal issue of passenger traffic and usually studied in an inappropriate geographical scale, not taking into account the specifi cities of freight. However, during the last decade the negative impacts of UGD on the quality of life, mobility and attractiveness of cities have contributed to an increasing attempt to reverse this tendency. More research on this topic has been conducted and the primary key findings on the topic have been made. The tendency has been to look at solutions inspired by other perspectives already studied and analysed in more detail (e.g. passenger transport) and apply them to a new specific context (e.g. freight). In some situations, this procedure leads to alternative initiatives that could be seen as ‘good practice’ in supplying cities, based on the theoretical or empirical results its implementation would produce. These examples of ‘good practices’ in UGD initiatives, however, present heterogeneous methodologies of evaluation and diverse types of output indicators, making it unfeasible to extrapolate general lessons from them. This chapter, which arises from broader research on UGD, tries to contribute to defi ning an objective methodology for the study of the topic. It proposes that the perspectives of public and private stakeholders should be considered, given the specificities of the topic of freight and that of the local intrinsic characteristics of implementation. To support the inclusion of stakeholders’ interests, a set of indicators is defined here according to the structure presented in the following paragraph. The chapter begins with a short preface on the stakeholders’ views of the topic of UGD. With this conceptual overview in mind, the ensuing section emphasizes the main criteria considered for the purpose of evaluation: mobility and sustainability. Subsequently we identify qualitative and quantitative criteria underlying good practices in the selection of indicators. The consideration of both these criteria is then combined and refined in light of the stakeholders’ main interests. The result of this methodology leads to a final compilation of indicators, whose validation is described in the last section. The final set of indicators suggested in this chapter allows us to quantify ‘good practices’ in UGD and support the evaluation of policies through the use of modelling tools.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific