ترابری شهری در برنامه ریزی استراتژیک شهر Urban freight transport in city strategic planning

1. Introduction Urban freight transport (UFT) deals with all flows of materials and goods in a city organized by professional institutions (Dablanc, 2007). Despite the fact that it is a vital element of economic development of the city, it is becoming a growing concern for the health and the quality of life of city residents. According to Dablanc (2007) it represents about 20–30% of vehicle kilometers and generates from 16% to 50% of air pollution emissions in the city. According to the European Commission, a significant number of European cities lose EUR 80 billion every year due to chronic congestions. Frequent road accidents also constitute a problem. Over 38% of all road accidents in EU countries take place in urban areas (European Commission, 2013a, 2013b). Urban freight transport is one of the sources of this problem. Nevertheless, a large number of cities still pursue the out-of-date policy in this field (Dablanc, 2007). According to the Special Eurobarometer survey (European Commission, 2013a, 2013b) it is possible to observe an increasing “urban mobility gap” between European cities. Some of them stand out as far as the level of progress in the process of planning and implementing UFT actions is concerned, while the majority of them do not have any experience in this field or their experience is negligible. In the opinion of respondents local authorities should be responsible for the road traffic reduction (both passenger and freight) in the city (European Commission, 2013a, 2013b). However, according to research in many EU cities long-term transport plans concentrate primarily on public transport and transport infrastructure, omitting freight transport (Allen, Browne, & Holguín-Veras, 2015; Kiba-Janiak, 2015; Lindholm, 2012; Lindholm & Browne, 2013). Therefore, it is essential that local authorities include not only passenger transport but also freight transport into city strategic planning and then carry out actions facilitating this field in accordance to the plans. In this paper two objectives have been presented – a theoretical one and an empirical one. The author’s concept of maturity levels of cities in planning and implementing activities in favor of urban freight transport is the theoretical objective, while the empirical objective deals with the analysis of selected European capital cities in terms of urban policy in creating long-term plans in the area of urban freight. In order to achieve these objectives the author has conducted a survey among selected European cities.