| Abstract | The increasing urbanization leads to worsening traffic conditions in urban areas. This results in a growing concern about local air quality and given its impact on children, the issue is of particular importance around schools. If more goods were consolidated (grouped) into fewer vehicles, the resulting reduction in the number of delivery vehicles on the roads and trips they make could help improve traffic congestion, air pollution, noise and safety around schools and beyond. Schools order and receive significant volumes of goods they need for their daily operation. The main research objective of this thesis is to establish the role of urban freight consolidation initiatives in supporting sustainable city logistics, with focus on the London school sector. In particular, the study will consider the scope for their joint procurement of products and the use of a goods consolidation facility - an Urban Consolidation Centre (UCC) or a Micro-Consolidation Centre (MCC), to bundle together all goods destined for each school and deliver them on a single vehicle at a pre-arranged time. The research objective is addressed by six research questions framed in the context of London schools and aimed at establishing current practices in goods procurement and deliveries, different stakeholders’ perceptions on the suitability of the above initiatives and their expected benefits, the existing interest, barriers and ways to encourage and support greater goods deliveries consolidation, as well as the role stakeholders can play in increasing the awareness of and uptake of these solutions. The primary data collection carried out using online questionnaires, a focus group and interviews, involved different stakeholder groups including London schools, policy makers, freight operators and a supplier. The research findings indicate the suitability of and the existing interest of London schools sector in goods deliveries consolidation achieved through joint procurement and/or the use of a goods consolidation facility. Schools’ awareness and understanding of how their procurement choices impact goods deliveries patterns are important in the efforts to encourage them to consider these initiatives, but their uptake is expected to depend on the role different stakeholder groups are prepared to play in the process. |
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