The Role of Municipalities in Construction Logistics for Sustainable Cities: A study to research the prerequisites of effective construction logistics with a municipality perspective

Abstract

Cities are evolving with increased urbanisation and many construction projects are hence taking place in parallel in dense city areas. This means that accessibility in cities comes to the forefront when many projects need to share a limited space in the built environment. Thus, construction logistics to and from the sites becomes challenging. Previous studies have identified that the municipalities have an important role to play because they have a mandate to regulate how construction logistics solutions are designed and used to meet the demands of sustainability and the citizen’s needs. Accordingly, the study that is conducted with AFRY, aims to investigate the municipalities’ role, incentives, and responsibilities in achieving sustainable construction logistics. The case study covers the project Stockholm Royal Seaport and The City of Stockholm’s implementation of a construction logistics solution as well as three other municipalities’: City of Gothenburg, municipality of Uppsala and the municipalities of Södertörn, positions and perceptions of construction logistics. The result of the study shows that the implementation of construction logistics solutions have varied in the studied municipalities. At the same time, all municipalities show an interest in construction logistics and see the benefits in an implementation. Construction logistics is considered important as it can reduce the climate impact and contributes to an attractive city. Construction logistics solutions thus contributes to the municipalities goals of reducing emission and is connected to the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals. The study concludes that to be able to implement a well-functioning construction logistics solution, the solution has to be developed by actors who possess the right knowledge and experience. Furthermore, the potentials with construction logistics have to be discussed at an early stage with affected stakeholders to create awareness and engagement among them. The result points out that an implementation of a construction logistic solution should be stated in the municipalities land allocation agreement in case of municipality-owned land or the land development agreement if the land is owned by a private actor