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Every year, over 364,200 people in Europe die prematurely due to the effects of air pollution, in which the transportation sector plays an important role. In Brussels, freight transport generates €61,604 of air pollution health costs daily. Research has shown that dynamic spatiotemporal modeling of both emission sources and exposed people (using mobile phone data) renders more accurate impact results when analyzed in microenvironments. However, mobile data underrepresent population segments that are more sensitive to the effects of air pollution, such as toddlers, children and elderly individuals. This paper examined the link between vulnerable people aged 0–3, 3–18 and >65 years and freight transport-related air pollution concentrations in the Brussels-Capital Region (BCR). To this end, dynamic tailpipe emissions and their spatiotemporal dispersion were calculated using output from the Transport Agent-Based Model (TRABAM) on a daily basis. Population densities were calculated as a function of the residences’occupancy rate and school/class size and opening hours. The effects of exposure were then evaluated using age- and sex-differentiated exposure-response functions and monetized using local hospital cost factors. Data were compiled for 2021. A strong overlap between people’s presence at the institutions’ locations was noticed with a peak in (freight) transportation movements in the city. The results showed that €37,000 [€34,517.47–€40,047.13] of freight transport-related air pollution health costs were incurred daily by vulnerable population segments. While these vulnerable groups made up 25.34% of the total BCR population, they incurred 60% [56.03%–65.01%] of the engendered transportation air pollution costs. The results were then geographically analyzed to identify 465 traffic-related air pollution hotspots across the territory, which accounted for €36,000 [€33,677.85–€39,101.31] of total costs. The latter can be used in future studies to assess sector-specific freight transportation policies, which should take into consideration spatiotemporal population densities on the local level.

Multi-actor multi-criteria analysis is a group decision-making framework that allows multiple stakeholder groups to be involved in the decision-making process, facilitating the understanding of the points of consensus and conflict among the stakeholder groups. Carefully selecting suitable criteria is important as they illustrate the possibly divergent priorities of the respective stakeholder group, and overlooking important criteria can lead to erroneous outcomes. Furthermore, the number of criteria needs specific consideration, as a too large number poses problems for human cognition, but a too small number inaccurately represents the stakeholder's interest. In stakeholder groups with many members, such as those representing citizens, defining a criteria set is likely to be even more complicated. Currently, there is no formal guideline to assist facilitators in defining these criteria sets. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for criteria preprocessing with stakeholder involvement that includes a guideline for firstly selecting criteria into a tentative list and secondly selecting the final criteria set. It provides a procedure on how to determine criteria considering the priorities of stakeholder groups with regard to the context. As a final step, we propose a mathematical model for selecting a number of criteria that are both cognitively manageable and representative for the participants' priorities. Based on the principles of the Pareto analysis, as well as the cognitive judgment theory “magic number seven plus or minus two”, a recommendation list of the criteria is generated. It prevents key criteria from being omitted while at the same time limiting the overall number of criteria. This framework is applied to a social decision-making case for construction logistics, and the results are compared with the conventional approach of criteria definition.

Purpose: The environmental logistics impact is significant in urban areas, characterised by high receptor densities, less accessible sites and limited storage space. With the aim to reduce negative externalities generated by urban construction transport and improve the use of existing inland waterway transport (IWT) infrastructure, the City of Brussels has implemented a water-bound Construction Consolidation Centre ((BCCC). While the concept of a CCC has been implemented in different European cities, limited impact studies are available. This paper assesses the environmental off-site road and IWT’s transport performance of the multimodal BCCC case. Design/methodology/approach: The sustainability impact is evaluated using economic external cost calculations, contextualised with transport planning indicators. Subsequently, findings are compared to business-as-usual (BAU) operations without a CCC as part of a scenario evaluation, for the 24 large construction sites supplied through the CCC between Sep-2019 and Dec-2020. Findings: Improvements in the IWT sector are necessary to tackle local emissions (NOx, PM) which rise significantly compared to BAU (+257 %), mainly attributable to less performant -yet ubiquitous- vessel engines and their long running life. In contrast, other externalities decrease, most noticeably on congestion costs (-91 %), climate change (-66 %), noise (-79 %) and infrastructure costs (-60 %). Overall, €49,404.67 of external costs are saved annually, a 58.72 % reduction compared to BAU. Additionally, improvements are observed on transport planning and efficiency, with 73 % timely deliveries and 93.32 % delivery compliance, hence respecting the Just-In-Time and Just-In-Place principles. Research limitations/implications: Promising results are shown to incentivize industry and policy makers for adopting a CCC in light of alleviating the impact of urban construction logistics (CL), if the overall external costs and mobility impacts are considered. Results should be further compared to other logistic solutions to evaluate complementary measures, including more differentiated scenario evaluations. Practical implications: Although IWT alleviates road network use, air pollution from vessels should be addressed. An IWT-CCC can offer decision-makers a transport planning solution to decrease urban nuisances and increase resource efficiency use, if specific IWT-CCC and CL applicability requirements are considered. Originality/value: This paper adds knowledge to the sector’s impact mitigation potential using IWT-CCC, offering insights for decisional support and policy recommendations.

Urban areas pay increasing attention to new construction and infrastructure works, mainly due to the rapid global rise in urbanisation. In the long run, these works have a positive correlation with the economic and social attractiveness of cities. Construction strongly relies on logistics activities, which cannot be neglected in the environmental equation. An important aspect in tackling the negative effects of construction logistics (CL) lies in understanding the source and mitigation potential of the impacts incurred. However, currently, limited robust impact assessments are available for this sector. Given the lack of these rigorous assessments, it is difficult to evaluate the environmental criteria concerned, especially when comparing innovative CL solutions. In this paper, we present a holistic sustainability assessment framework designed for CL activities based on life cycle approaches, which covers four main iterative steps: (1) goal and scope definition, (2) data identification and availability, (3) scenario and setup evaluation and (4) environmental impact assessment. To measure both the off-site and on-site CL impact, two distinct and complementary methodologies are used: External Cost Calculations and Life Cycle Assessment. The framework was implemented on a pilot case in the Brussels-Capital Region (Belgium). It provides a holistic view of CL impacts for policy evaluations and implementations on the project, portfolio or city level. The results show that off-site zero-emission construction vehicles are the way forward if cities want to achieve environmental goals by 2035. However, market readiness for high-capacity vehicles must be considered. Otherwise, the positive effects on air pollution, climate change and noise are offset by a saturation of the road transport network and its associated congestion and infrastructure damage costs.

To reduce disturbances and impact from construction transports during urban development, logistics flows need to be managed and controlled efficiently. One way to do so is using construction logistics setups. However, these rarely take both initiator and end-user perspectives into consideration. The paper builds on a longitudinal multiple-case study with cases from Belgium, Norway, and Sweden. The cases provide insights on different tools and approaches for gathering stakeholder input, simulation and forecasting of transport volumes, what type of services are needed in urban construction projects, and different governance measures and incentives. A cross-case analysis was performed to find similarities and differences between the countries. The result of the study is a conceptual framework, presenting a systems overview of the decision routes in urban development linked to construction logistics.

The urban built environment concentrates due to the growing urbanization trend, triggering construction and renovation works in urban areas. Although construction works often revitalize cities upon completion, the associated logistics activities engender a significant financial and environmental footprint if not handled appropriately. Cities have the largest potential to reduce negative impacts through requirements on construction logistics. However, today, there is a lack of knowledge within cities on how to set such demands and how to involve and manage the numerous and varying stakeholders in these processes. This paper presents a participatory decision-making framework for the governance of urban construction logistics on economic, environmental and societal levels, building further on the Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis (MAMCA). The framework was then implemented on a use case in the dense urban Brussels-Capital Region (Belgium), gathering a wide variety of stakeholders in the context of a sustainable Construction Logistics Scenario (CLS) evaluation. Special attention was paid on the identification of implementation barriers and the role of governments to facilitate the introduction and city-wide roll-out of novel CLS. Findings show how different processes are site-, actor- and condition-specific, thereby delivering a common built object which is often based on different motivations and concerns. The study proposes a flexible, replicable and upscalable framework both from an inter- and intracity perspective, which can serve to support (1) the management of processes and CLS, (2) the management of people and the community, and (3) the project and city, in the context of multi-level governance.

Introduction. The ongoing urbanization trend makes local governments densify their built environment, hence stimulating construction and renovation works in urban areas. Construction intrinsically strongly relies on logistics activities, which in turn are the source of environmental nuisances. The latter are referred to as external costs when they are not borne by the polluter himself, such as greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, congestion, etc. Accurate external cost calculations require accurate data to consider significant calculation-variables. However, current calculations are often based on the number of vehicles used and on transported volume rather than vehicle- or tonne-kilometres, hence not adequate to conduct external cost calculations. Methods. The MIMIC-project1 aims to reduce the impact of construction logistics. Therefore, an integrated impact assessment framework will be developed, assessing the economic and environmental influence of different off-site construction logistics solutions. The necessary data to conduct such an impact assessment are however not always available, complicating calculations. This paper highlights the current gap in accurate data on urban construction logistics flows, the considerable uncertainty about existing figures on construction transport and their methodology, and presents the data availability issue in the development of such a framework, using empirical research. Results. Logistics flows data are typically scattered amongst different actors and various in format. Harmonizing different data categories and sources to feed the framework with relevant logistics variables, this paper presents what is possible to calculate using available data in 4 pilot cases in Belgium, Sweden, Norway and Austria. The various data sources highlight the complexity to develop a framework flexible enough to cope with specific local constraints, whilst generic enough to allow comparability across the European cases, and ultimately across construction logistics globally. Furthermore, a shift is needed towards other data collection methods (GPS, digital waybills etc.). Conclusions. This paper presents the data availability issue in the development of an impact assessment framework for construction logistics, harmonizing different data sources in order to conduct external cost calculations for construction transport.

Introduction: Construction sites are among the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the construction industry. Large quantities of construction materials and other resources need to be transported to, within, and from construction sites. Implementation of different construction logistics solutions can reduce the impact from construction. The objectives of this article are to map the status and present the current practice of construction logistics in Norway, and to discuss how different no or low emission construction logistics solutions can be promoted. Methods: Methods applied are a literature review including findings from the recent development of emission free construction sites and qualitative case study with interviews carried out in Norway. Results: Findings indicate that lack of regulations, specific requirements and awareness, and use of traditional methods to avoid risks are some of the challenges for minimizing impact from construction logistics. However, opportunities are also present; mainly driven by political ambitions, improved environmental requirements in public procurement tenders and market demands and ambitions for reductions in emissions and costs. Preliminary results from interviews in Norway support these findings. Conclusions: The study show that the goal of achieving no or low emission from construction site is possible through setting ambitious requirements, good planning and a close and open collaboration between involved stakeholders. Grant support: This work is part of the Joint Programming Initative (JPI) Urban Europe project “Minimizing impact of construction material flows in cities: Innovative Co-Creation”, supported by the national research councils of the participating countries (Sweden, Norway, Austria, Belgium).

Construction logistics scenarios is an illusive term, that need to be defined to be useful. This deliverable defines construction logistics scenarios as part of both the construction process planning and the construction logistics planning. It is defined on three hierarchical levels; strategic, tactical and operational and these three levels are related to the project phases of the construction project. • On the strategic level, in the strategic planning phases of the project, we need to identify the scope and goals of logistics in a construction project. The scope is related to geographical boundaries and the goal to the stakeholders involved. • On the tactical level, in the planning phase of the project, we identify several scenarios of construction logistics. These scenarios are to include contextual and logistics considerations. • On the operational level, in the implementation phase of the project, we identify and implement a specific construction logistics setup.

The economic and social attractiveness of cities is concentrating increasingly more new construction and infrastructure works. Given construction strongly relies on logistics activities, and new managerial concepts became commonplace, greater amounts of (partial) transport deliveries can be observed. These construction logistics activities cause significant environmental damages, referred to as external costs, such as air pollution, GHG emissions, congestion, etc. Their impact is especially noticeable in urban areas, where receptor densities are high, and on-site storage space and site accessibility are limited. The Brussels Construction Consolidation Centre (BCCC) project consists in providing construction sites in the Brussels Capital Region (BCR) with a collaborative and intelligent tool for mobility and urban logistics of construction materials, with the aim to reduce its negative externalities and improve the use of existing transport infrastructure, for which an integrated Impact Assessment Framework will be developed. This paper presents preliminary results of the first operations through the BCCC, compared to Business-As-Usual (BAU) with truck deliveries to site without BCCC. Two main conclusions can be drawn. First, an overall decrease in external costs is noticeable through the BCCC setup, with the modal shift from road to IWT causing a significant drop in congestion costs, and to a lesser extent also climate change, noise and accidents costs. However, it also presents a strong increase in air pollution costs, highlighting the increasing gap with modern road haulage engines and the sense of urgency to render IWT more sustainable. Second, it also illustrates the main hurdle of the analysis: the collection of unified data and its format. Further integration of logistics data flows from the project partners (the BCCC, the LSPs and the Logistics Cloud Solution) is required, as to model fine-grained trips and reduce assumptions, allowing to understand how their environmental effects will alter using an urbanwater-bound CCC.

While transport is inevitable in our economy and daily lives, it also engenders many negative effects - on the economy, society, and environment. Though a large share of the external costs associated with climate change is attributable to transport, this is only partly carried by it. The transport sector still lags behind with regard to emitted greenhouse gases and faces difficulties in achieving the emission reduction goals. In line with the ‘polluter pays’ principle, an instrument for internalizing the external costs of transport is a road pricing scheme. Not only would it stimulate the use of more environmentally friendly vehicles, this concept could also prove its use in pursuing a level playing field across different transport modes. Implementation of a pricing system should be well thought of, as perverse effects can easily arise. Road pricing will also incentivize the switch to zero-emission vehicles. A pricing scheme should be implemented coherently on a European level to avoid additional kilometres due to detour and related externalities.

Air pollution is considered the largest threat to human health, a large share of these transport-related emissions being attributable to freight transport. The associated external costs of air pollution are directly linked to the number of vicinal receptors. Studies so far have only considered the static link between the presence of the emission source and the number of its vicinal receptors, often based on the home location, as such making abstraction of individual travel patterns. This research combines both dynamic receptor densities and freight transport emission sources.

Defined as PM, NOx and O3, air pollution is considered the largest threat to human health, responsible for 555,000 premature deaths in Europe every year [1, 2]. Its effects have recently gained in public awareness, with several bottom-up actions against (traffic-related) air pollution. A large share of these emissions (and their impact on society, the economy and the environment) has its origin in freight transport: while freight transport only represents 14% of total traffic in the Brussels Capital Region, it is responsible for 33% of traffic related PM emission [3]. Externalities arise when the associated costs of air pollution are not carried by the causer (such as the impact of air pollution on human health), as these changes in wealth are not included in the prices of transport activities [4]. The number of receptors, the people in near vicinity of the emission source, is directly linked to the magnitude of the external costs generated by air pollution. So far, only the static geotemporal link between the presence of the emission source (the driving vehicle) and the number of its vicinal receptors has been considered [5]. Assuming immobile humans, this is often based on the home location, thus making abstraction of individual travel patterns [6]. To our knowledge, combining geotemporal dynamics of both receptors and freight transport vehicles emission sources is novel [7]. This study highlights the impact of air pollution by quantifying particulate matter and mono-nitrogen oxides (PM and NOx) generated by freight transport in the Brussels Metropolitan Region (BMR). Applying the impact-pathway approach [8], the external costs along the path followed by freight vehicles (spatiotemporal emission levels) are derived from the TRABAM freight transport model, enveloping vehicle-, road-, traffic-dependent emissions [11]. Dynamic receptor densities have been obtained from mobile service providers data [9, 10] and contain the number of people on cellular network base cell level per 30-minute interval. In turn, the emitted and dispersed pollutants and number of receptors have been connected to one another using dose-response functions of Devos et al. [12, 13], based on local hospital data from the UZ Brussels. Results were then compared to the conventional static methodology which is current practice in literature. On local-level analyses, this comparison between the conventional static and proposed dynamic approach results in very large discrepancies in external costs generated by freight transport in terms of PM and NOx, going up to a factor 45. In the inner city region, mostly higher external costs are observed using the dynamic approach compared to the previously assumed static measurements. The findings suggest the proposed dynamic methodology should be used in micro-scale or route-specific air pollution analyses. Hence, facilitating freight transport operations where temporal resolutions are low is advisable. Notwithstanding the micro-level differences, it is worth noting the overall difference between the static and dynamic approach is negligible when applied on the entire Brussels Metropolitan Region (0,5%), as such supporting the application of the conventional static approach on meso- or macro level (entire cities or countries). However, this study being the first of its kind, additional research should be carried out for other regions and for passenger transport to allow generalizable statements on this subject.

Every year, more than 500,000 people in Europe die prematurely due to the effects of air pollution. The transport sector plays an important role in total emitted air pollutants such as NOx and PM. The health impacts of air pollution such as lung and cardiovascular diseases, strokes and at worst, death, are broadly documented, and can be calculated using dose-response functions and translated in monetary external costs. The magnitude of air pollution external costs is especially high in urban areas, as these are dependent on receptor densities. Research has shown that dynamic spatiotemporal modelling – following the Impact-Pathway Approach - of both the emission sources (moving combustion vehicles) and the receptors (people exposed to air pollutants, e.g. based on mobile phone data) renders more accurate impact results, especially when analyzing its impact on a microlevel, such as for a neighborhood, link or building. However, while mobile phone data covers 91,6% of the population, it does not capture marginalpopulation segments with limited cell coverage, such as children or elderly people, which are disproportionately exposed and more vulnerable to air pollutants. This paper examines the link between vulnerable population’s locations, in particular schools and elderly care centres, and air pollution concentrations from freight transport in the Brussels Metropolitan Region. To this end, dynamic emissions and their spatial dispersion are calculated using output from the Transport Agent-Based Model (TRABAM). Dynamic receptor densities at the vulnerable locations are calculated in function of the residencies’ occupancy rate and school/class size and opening hours. The effects of air pollution exposure are evaluated using dose-response functions and monetized in terms of external costs. Results are then geographically analyzed in function of the statistical sector to examine the link or magnitude of incurred inequities from these locations across the Brussels Metropolitan Area. The results the authors aim to includein this paper is which mitigation potential exists towards achieving a more equitable environmental justice (transport) system (e.g. spatio-temporal routing objectives in function of receptor concentrations).

This deliverable is part of Work Package 2 of the MIMIC project (Minimizing impact of construction material flows in cities: Innovative Co-Creation), a JPI Europe funded research project with demonstration cases in Brussels, Vienna, Oslo and Sweden. The objective of WP2 is integration of state-of-the-art impact assessment methods in a practical and easy-to-use framework to assess the sustainability effects of on and off-site construction logistics and assessment of impacts. Based on current knowledge of sustainability impacts of logistics operations, construction management and existing calculation tools, a framework will be set up to monitor and quantify the off-site and on-site economic, social and environmental impact of construction logistics scenarios including major externalities (accidents, air pollution, climate change, infrastructure, congestion and noise) compared to 'business-as-usual'. Deliverable 2.1 introduces the methodologies that will be used to assess the impact of on-site and off-site construction logistics. In order to cover the impact of both on-site and off-site construction logistics, the assessment framework will combine two distinct methodologies: External Cost Calculations and Life Cycle Assessment. This deliverable presents each methodology in detail, highlighting the scope, the system boundaries, their logistics activities and their data collection plan. Finally, a first building stone will be laid towards expected outcomes, the feedback loop in developing the impact assessment framework, and how both methodologies will be brought together within the framework for the final deliverable by the end of the project.

Urban construction projects are essential in reducing the housing deficit of the latest urbanization trend. As such, construction projects contribute to more attractive, sustainable and economically viable urban areas once they are finished. However, construction work and construction material flow activities cause severe negative impacts on the surrounding community during the construction process. The MIMIC project focuses on the social, economic and environmental sustainability problems that arise from urban construction, and especially the logistics activities to, from, around and on urban construction sites.This deliverable is part of MIMIC (Minimizing impact of construction material flows in cities: Innovative Co-Creation), a JPI Europe funded research project with demonstration cases in Brussels, Vienna, Oslo and Sweden. Deliverable 1.4 provides guidelines to introduce formal evaluation methods into the co-creation process. The Multi-Actor Multi-Criteria Analysis (MAMCA), designed by Macharis (2000) and further developed within the MOBI Research Centre, aims at reaching a consensus among stakeholders and stakeholder groups, hence highlighting which logistics solutions receive the largest support. Deliverable 1.4 aims to formulate how the MAMCA methodology can be implemented within the MIMIC project and, ultimately, within the construction logistics sector. It introduces the MAMCA evaluation method, explains how this method can be applied in the co-creation process in MIMIC and in construction logistics, and provides practical guidelines to carry out the analysis with the help of the online MAMCA software.