Operations research for planning and managing city logistics systems

City Logistics defines an integrated logistics system, based on stakeholders' cooperation, resource sharing, consolidation, synchronization of operations, multi- and intermodal transport, and the separation of commercial transactions generating demand for goods movements from the planning and execution of the supply activities addressing this demand. Operations Research provides the methodology to design and deploy the advanced planning and management decision-support tools needed to account for the complexity of City Logistics systems and to reach their goals of service, economic, and environmental efficiency, the latter being particularly important in view of the growing climate-change crisis and the immense and accelerating impact of transportation on climate change. We recall the systemic view of City Logistics and its paradigm-changing role for urban freight transportation and logistics. We then review the main Operations Research methods addressing the City Logistics supply-planning issues at strategic, tactical-operational, and dynamic-management levels.