Business Modeling of a City Logistics ICT Platform

Interest in City Logistics has been increasing among scholars, the industry, local administrations and various stakeholders. In particular, a number of projects have been developing with the aim of overcoming the negative impact of urban parcel delivery and making it more efficient and sustainable, from both the operations and environmental standpoints. However, most of these initiatives are more focused on technical solutions, regardless of the potential long-term economic feasibility and fitting with the stakeholders’ needs. In order to take into account the actual feasibility of CL initiative, this paper presents the case study of the Urban Electronic Logistics (URBeLOG) project, carried out with the aim to develop an ICT platform to support and improve urban last-mile logistics in two pilot cities, namely Turin and Milan (Italy). The definition of the business model of the solution has been obtained through two sessions of the Business Model Canvas wherein all the partners of the project together with a representative of the public authority have taken part. The project combines the emphasis on the ICT solution with a stakeholder-driven approach to business model design.