Financed under the LIFE Environment Program, CEDM is a three-year pilot project project aiming at the study and  implementation of a number of measures – regulatory, organisational, operational and technological – to improve City Logistics operations and reduce the negative impacts of freight traffic in the inner historical centre of Lucca.

THE PROJECT

Centred around the concept and operation of the Centre for Eco-Friendly City Freight Distribution, CEDM implemented, integrated and demonstrated innovative B2C and B2B city logistics services strongly oriented to cooperative logistics and to facilitate the interaction of the different actors within the logistics chain – freight transport operators (short/mid/long-range), eco-friendly fleets for city deliveries, shops and retail system, mobility operators, Local Authorities.

All CEDM measures and pilot services (see section Insight) are based on city logistics schemes well integrated in the broader context of Lucca mobility and transport measures. The evaluation of implemented measures during pilot operations (over more than one year time) has shown the benefits of CEDM scheme and services in terms of  contributing to higher standards of energy efficiency and environmental quality in the historical centre, thereby proposing an assessed model for city distribution that can be adopted also from other European cities of the same kind and size.

The CEDM pilot project successfully ended the planned activities on April 2008. The implementation and demonstration of the CEDM and its advanced B2B and B2C services lead to important steps to prepare the permanent introduction and operation of CEDM infrastructures and city distribution services as part of the overall plan for a sustainable mobility in Lucca (for more details, see section Results).

CEDM provides assessed measures and answers for sustainable City Logistics within historical urban centres. Many European cities and towns have historical centres, and sustainability, environment preservation and quality of life have become major concerns. City Logistics is assuming a transverse role, as it operates within complex interdependencies at the urban level. New solutions are increasingly being researched, including measures and elements such as freight transit points, on-demand van stop and unload areas, time windows and access ‘certificates’, van sharing, B2C goods pick-up points and e-lockers, etc.

The city of Lucca, a mid-sized city with an important historical centre located in central Italy (Toscana Region) has invested over the last years relevant resources to achieve significant reductions of traffic related energy consumption, noxious gases emissions and noise, and to preserve the quality of the environment and the historical and tourist assets. This has been done through specific regulatory initiatives and mobility schemes and the realisation of telematics infrastructures devoted to mobility management, improvement of quality of public transport and environmental protection.

Being Lucca, as a large part of Italian and European historical cities, vocationally oriented mainly to services, commerce and tourism, the city Administration has put much attention and political will to address also city logistics within their mobility and environmental short-/mid-term city priorities. Currently, the historical city centre is partly closed to private traffic but not to freight traffic, thus specific innovative measures are needed to reduce impacts and preserve not only the quality and sustainability of the urban environment but also its attractiveness for commerce, service and economic activities.

CONSORTIUM

A consolidated research group with a renowned academic and industrial profile.

• Municipality of Lucca (IT)
• Regione Toscana (IT)
• ENEA (IT)
• algoWatt SpA (IT)
• Municipality of Aalborg (DK)
• MemEx (IT)
• COTAS Logistica (IT)
• Ministry for Environment and Protection of the Territory (IT)