A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective on Barriers to a Fossil-Free Urban Freight System

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to provide a system perspective on the barriers to the development of a fossil-free and thus more sustainable urban freight system and to provide insights regarding these barriers and how they impede progress. The system perspective complements earlier research, where barriers were identified in delimited parts of freight systems. Here, the urban freight system in a Swedish city is explored using an inductive and qualitative approach, according to which barriers are both detailed and categorized. This study is based on empirical data concerning the perceptions of multiple stakeholders in one system. The interrelationships between barrier categories and changes to the urban freight system are explored through management theory. This study provides a unique overview of the barriers to development in one system and insights concerning these barriers and how they impede development of the system. Ten categories of barriers are identified: technology, infrastructure, economy, knowledge, policy, goals, organization, cooperation, politics, and societal factors. The categories can be divided into four different types, which are related to each other and to the overall system in various ways, based on how they impede the development toward sustainability. Future research could advance this theoretical knowledge by continuing to study urban freight system development processes and by adding insights from other contexts, stakeholders, and theoretical areas.

Lack of Collaboration on the CEP Market and the Underlying Reasons—A Systematic Literature Review

“…However, the presence of logistics delivery trucks will undoubtedly have a detrimental effect on urban road traffic, as evidenced by an increase in congestion, a rise in the environmental burden of traffic, a decrease in road safety, and a strain on automobile drivers' workloads [17]. Development has been pushed toward a more resource-efficient use and the transition to fossil-free practices in order to fulfill both rising capacity needs and the need to lessen the detrimental effects of urban freight [18].…”