Framework for construction logistics in an urban environment

In Sweden and globally, a major urbanization trend is currently underway. This means that the need for city development, i.e. the construction of various types of residential buildings, public buildings and infrastructure, is increasing rapidly. Of course, as construction increases, so does the need for land to build on. It is preferable to avoid expanding cities too far out into the countryside as it is important to preserve agricultural areas. Instead, city development is solved through densification, i.e. different types of new buildings within existing settlements.

When cities become denser, problems inevitably arise in the vicinity of construction sites. Large amounts of material must be transported to the site on existing roads and zones for unloading and safety must be established, which can cause a lot of disturbance to the surrounding urban environment. This has led to an increasing need for good handling of so-called construction logistics setups.

– The introduction of construction logistics setups affects many different stakeholders in a construction project and also the relationships between them, says Mats Janné who recently defended his dissertation at the Department of Science and Technology (ITN), Division of Communications and Transport Systems (KTS).

Construction logistics setups are introduced to manage three main challenges; to handle transport to and from construction projects, to handle logistics at the construction sites and to coordinate relations between the construction project's stakeholders.

– The development of construction logistics setups is often based on previous solutions as there are currently no guidelines for how to develop and implement the setups. In my dissertation, I want to present a proposal of a framework for how to develop construction logistics setups and thus avoid ad hoc solutions, says Mats Janné.