Modeling Urban Goods Movement: How to be Oriented with so Many Approaches?

This paper proposes an analysis of the different model construction and development approaches in the context of urban goods movement (UGM). We focus on the model development issues more than on the mathematical tools applied in these models. First, we explore the main UGM models in the field, identifying their main construction schemas and their features limits. From this analysis, we propose a classification of UGM modeling frameworks, synthesizing them on a table that illustrates their construction schemas. Second, we analyze their limits and find a first set of synergies between the different thinking schools. This analysis allows us to highlight the strong points and override their weaknesses, and to propose a set of recommendations for planners and modeling schools in order to find co-operative schemas that improve the models’ efficiency.