Does Online Shopping Create Urban Congestion?
April 18, 2018 Webinar
10:00AM - 11:00AM

Discuss this topic with Alison Conway from the University Transportation Research Center and Michael Browne from the University of Gothenberg, Sweden. Hosted by Meeting of the Minds.

Register here.

The retail consumer pattern shift toward online shopping is impacting how, where, and when goods are moved in and around cities. Instead of regular bulk shipments from warehouses to retail outlets, individual purchases are bypassing the physical shops and being delivered directly to consumers, often to residential locations that were not designed to receive frequent deliveries.

What are the impacts on energy, materials, waste, and other supply chain aspects of this shift toward smaller but more frequent goods deliveries? Is the increased use of postal, courier, and other small delivery services (including food shopping and meal deliveries) contributing to road congestion? How are retailers adapting their supply chains to meet consumer demand and are new actors emerging? How are city agencies responding to these changing retail, land use and transport patterns? How are residential buildings coping with increased freight trips, and what are the implications for freight and passenger transport interaction in cities?

Two researchers from the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF) global network - Alison Conway, expert on transportation logistics challenges, e-commerce, and urban streetspace at the City College in New York; and Michael Browne, expert on e-commerce, home delivery, and supply chains and how to engage with urban freight stakeholders - will discuss the challenges and responses to online shopping’s impact on how freight is moved in cities.

Speakers:

Dr. Alison Conway, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the City College of New York & Associate Director for Education at UTRC (University Transportation Research Center)

Michael Browne, Professor, Logistics and Urban Freight Transport, School of Economics, Business and Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden