Parcel delivery in urban areas: opportunities and threats for the mix of new business models and technologies

In recent years, freight transportation and parcel delivery became key activities in the economy of the urban areas. However, the different inefficiencies and externalities affecting the last mile segment lead operators and local administrations to make freight distribution more sustainable and competitive, by introducing new business models, integrating disruptive technologies (e.g., electric vehicles and cargo-bikes) and small consolidation points (e.g., mobile depot and lockers). Hence, this paper faces the interesting challenge concerning the integration of different technologies from both business and operational perspectives, with a twofold goal. First, we identify the synergies and conflicts between the actors involved in the urban parcel delivery. Second, we present a simulation-optimization framework to assess multi-technology policies for the management of last mile delivery in urban areas and we apply it to the city of Turin (Italy). According to our results, some insights can be derived. First, Urban logistics are complex problems where applying a structured analysis methodology able to mix qualitative and quantitative methods leads to better solutions compared to the ones in literature. Second, mixing the different options can lead to a significate reduction of externalities, but this process must be governed by policies able to avoid the conflicts between the actors in the system.