Chapter 16: Surveys on Urban Freight Transport: Synthesis of a Workshop

Workshop participants were given the task of defining the state of the art in urban freight surveys, identifying key issues and challenges and providing advice for continued research. This topic is of growing interest for urban and regional policymakers, as evidenced by the increasing number of surveys being undertaken worldwide. This trend is likely to continue, given pressures for improved air quality in urban areas, pressures to regulate and reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and pressures imposed on logistics chains by increasing fuel prices.

The 19 participants of this workshop represented a diverse range of expertise from 12 countries including Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Nigeria, S. Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The geographical and topical diversity of the participants presented a clear opportunity for workshop participants to share both similar and different experiences, to identify areas where significant progress has been made in urban freight survey research and to identify critical gaps in knowledge. The diversity also underscored the need to develop improved harmonisation of both data collection and communication about data, the theme of the ISCTSC 2008 conference.