A unified typology of urban logistics spaces as interfaces for freight transport

Abstract

Performant planning and integration of Urban Logistics Spaces (ULS) in logistics networks are key to optimising the circulation of goods in cities. During the last three decades, several documents on ULS have been published, most of them proposing different methodologies for the design and location of Urban Distribution Centres (UDC). Until now, there is no international consensus on the definitions of ULS nor any apparent uniform classification. In this paper, a systematic literature review on ULS is presented. The objective is to identify their characteristics, criteria, and particularities to propose a unified taxonomy. By searching the papers from 1990 to 2019, a total of 216 publications were selected and classified. This review finds predominant orientation towards UDCs, considering high rotation storage, with specialised ULS being less studied. A general typology of ULS is proposed, adaptive to any urban context. Lines for future research are proposed to help both practitioners and scholars to provide insights into all types of ULS.