A sustainable perspective on urban freight transport: Factors affecting local authorities in the planning procedures

Freight transport has a minor role in transport planning procedures in most cities, although freight transport operations represent a substantial proportion of emissions. The focus in this research is the local authority perspective of sustainable urban freight transport and the aim is to contribute to the understanding of how freight transport affects the urban environment and how awareness and knowledge within the local authority effects the urban freight transport situation. The analysis is based on four studies: a literature study, a review of transport in three cities via in-depth interviews, a review of freight in four cities via in-depth interviews and finally a review of freight in all Swedish cities via a questionnaire survey. Three aspects are considered throughout the research: the sustainability concept, knowledge and awareness as well as barriers and drivers. The results confirm that knowledge and awareness in the area of urban freight transport is low, which generates a low level of interest in the subject and makes it hard to predict outcomes of certain actions. The implication for local authorities is that the issue of urban freight transport should gain a higher priority on the agenda.