Urban Metrics for Urban Logistics: Building an Atlas for Urban Freight Policy Makers

Recognizing the scant coordination frequently observed between city planning and logistics, this paper introduces a set of metrics and tools for informing city planners about drivers of urban freight efficiency that could be used to design better urban freight policies. We propose a web-based urban logistics atlas to assist the decision making processes regarding urban freight. The pilot of the atlas included an extensive data collection effort in selected one square-kilometer areas in eight metropolises around the world. This paper will review the motivations to create the atlas, the proposed set of urban logistics metrics to characterize each city, the development of the tool and some initial findings that illustrate the value of extending this effort. ______________________________________________________ D. Merchan (Corresponding author) • E. Blanco • A. Bateman Center for Transportation and Logistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, US Email: dmerchan@mit.edu E. Blanco Email: eblanco@mit.edu A. Bateman Email: hickmana@mit.edu CUPUM 2015 140-Paper