The Logistic Hub supplies the city in a smart and sustainable manner, gets rid of inefficient courier routes and replaces smelly delivery trucks with clean electric vehicles.
Watch the movie
Watch the movie about the logistic hub for smart and sustainable supply on youtube:
Slim en duurzaam bevoorraden UvA-HvA
Check the article about the Logistics Hub/Simply Mile featured in our online magazine 'Smart Stories':
The AUAS and the UvA have a tremendous amount of goods and services delivered. The two educational institutions, which have combined the purchasing of goods and services in a single purchasing organisation, deal with a total of around 16,000 suppliers. Each year, all of those suppliers combined make 90,000 delivery trips amounting to a total of 2.8 million kilometres, which is equivalent to circling the earth 70 times. This enormous number of deliveries places a major burden on the environment, and adds to the hustle and bustle and traffic build-up and congestion in the city.
This hub is aimed at suppliers of goods (some 8,000) who together make around 30,000 delivery trips per year, covering a distance of 1 million kilometres. The goal is to reduce the number of trips into the city over time, while simultaneously increasing the load in each vehicle. The hub will use clean, electrically powered vehicles and bicycles and should reduce the number of trips from 30,000 now to around 750 clean delivery trips per year in the future.
De AUAS and UvA initiated the project. The hub has been achieved in Duivendrecht in cooperation with logistics partners Deudekom (hub manager), PostNL (electric cargo bikes) and Transmission (electric trucks). The first suppliers (Canon, Maas International, Heijmans, CWS and Staples) are already cooperating with the hub.
The two organisations are currently in the process of contacting all of their suppliers and asking them to join the hub.
The use of a hub is one of the specific outcomes of a long-term study on improving the sustainability of purchasing by the UvA and the AUAS , conducted by AUAS researchers and students, which preceded the development of the hub. AUAS professor Walther Ploos van Amstel and researcher Susanne Balm have been working with suppliers since 2014 to identify the steps needed to make the traffic flows of the UvA and the AUAS more sustainable. Combining deliveries in a hub outside the city was an important recommendation from the study. This has now been achieved in Duivendrecht in cooperation with logistics partners Deudekom (hub manager), PostNL (electric cargo bikes) and Transmission (electric trucks). The approach to the hub is what makes it unique. Whereas other logistics hubs are established using government subsidies, often from municipal authorities, this hub will run without any subsidy at all. Thanks to a smart redistribution of costs between the suppliers and the two educational institutions, the total costs will be no higher than they were previously. At the same time, both parties will benefit from lower fuel costs and less time lost by the suppliers, as well as more effective and cleaner deliveries for the AUAS and the UvA.
A previous post made it clear that a 15-minute city ideally consists of a 5-minute walking zone, a 15-minute walking zone, also a 5-minute cycling zone and a the 15-minute cycling zone. These three types of neighbourhoods and districts should be developed in conjunction, with employment accessibility also playing an important role.
In the plans for 15-minute cities in many places around the world, these types of zones intertwine, and often it is not even clear which type of zone is meant. In Paris too, I miss clear choices in this regard.
The city of Melbourne aims to give a local lifestyle a dominant place among all residents. Therefore, everyone should live within at most 10 minutes' walking distance to and from all daily amenities. For this reason, it is referred to as a 20-minute city, whereas in most examples of a 15-minute city, such as Paris, it is only about <strong>the round trip</strong>. The policy in Melbourne has received strong support from the health sector, which highlights the negative effects of traffic and air pollution.
In Vancouver, there is talk of a 5-minute city. The idea is for neighbourhoods to become more distinct parts of the city. Each neighbourhood should have several locally owned shops as well as public facilities such as parks, schools, community centres, childcare and libraries. High on the agenda is the push for greater diversity of residents and housing types. Especially in inner-city neighbourhoods, this is accompanied by high densities and high-rise buildings. Confronting this idea with reality yields a pattern of about 120 such geographical units (see map above).
Many other cities picked up the idea of the 15-minute city. Among them: Barcelona, London, Milan, Ottawa, Detroit and Portland. The organisation of world cities C40 (now consisting of 96 cities) elevated the idea to the main policy goal in the post-Covid period.
All these cities advocate a reversal of mainstream urbanisation policies. In recent decades, many billions have been invested in building roads with the aim of improving accessibility. This means increasing the distance you can travel in a given time. As a result, facilities were scaled up and concentrated in increasingly distant places. This in turn led to increased congestion that negated improvements in accessibility. The response was further expansion of the road network. This phenomenon is known as the 'mobility trap' or the Marchetti constant.
Instead of increasing accessibility, the 15-minute city aims to expand the number of urban functions you can access within a certain amount of time. This includes employment opportunities. The possibility of working from home has reduced the relevance of the distance between home and workplace. In contrast, the importance of a pleasant living environment has increased. A modified version of the 15-minute city, the 'walkable city' then throws high hopes. That, among other things, is the subject of my next post.
Discover our solutions for disabled parking management (as installed in Breda), management for electrical charging on public loading infrastructure and shop&go parking spots.
Last month designers FABRICations, Studio To Create and Inbo the question: “How can drones create a more livable Amsterdam?” The teams developed near-future design scenarios were emergency response and delivery of goods (and people) would impact project areas the Western Port Area, Amsterdam Zuidoost, and RAI Amsterdam. Project partners Arcam and the Amsterdam Drone Lab invite you to the “Urban Sky Lab” expo which kicks off with an actual drone flying from Marineterrein to the ARCAM building to open the expo. Curious about the design proposals? or how this new low altitude airspace above our city will work? Join us!
Title: Opening Exhibition Amsterdam Urban Sky Lab
Date: Thursday, March 28, 2024
Time: walk-in from 5 p.m. – end around 7 p.m.
Location: Arcam
Address: Prins Hendrikkade 600
Sign up for the opening: https://forms.gle/GTNfDBNdUfqA2fhJ6
Hi Jelle,
That sounds interesting! I am sure that the logistics service providers would like to talk about this too. Let's plan a meeting after the summer (in September).
Hi Susanne,
interesting study! In the Port of Amsterdam we are also checking the support level for city distribution via the Amsterdam waterways and the need of a hub in the port to facilitate this need. Can we exchange (or maybe combine) our experiences? Hope to hear from you.
Cheers, Jelle