What is The Future for Cities?

"We never can abandon freight as long we have demand for products and services… We are the blood vessels for a healthy society, and that, that's very important.”
Are you interested in how logistics influences urban planning? What do you think about pilots of collaborative logistics? How can we rethink logistics in regards to resilience?
Interview with Ron van Duin, applied research professor of Port & City Logistics at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and assistant professor at Delft University of Technology, Faculty Technology, Policy and Management. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, freight and transportation, drones, autonomous vehicles, rethinking logistics for resilience, and many more.
Ron van Duin is an applied research professor of Port & City Logistics at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and assistant professor at Delft University of Technology, Faculty Technology, Policy and Management. With a background in Econometrics and a PhD in Technology, Policy and Management. He has over 30 years’ experience in city logistics, sustainable urban freight transport, intermodal transportation, and simulation. His research focuses on sustainability, efficiency, and the impacts of new technologies in freight and logistics.
Find out more about Ron through these links:
Ron van Duin on LinkedIn
Ron van Duin at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
Ron van Duin at TU Delft
Ron van Duin on Google Scholar
Ron van Duin on ResearchGate
Low Impact in Lastmile Logistics - CoE KennisDC Logistiek
Connected episodes you might be interested in:
No.344 - Interview with Mark Coates about challenges of urban delivery
No.439R - How autonomous vehicles can affect anomalies of urban transportation
No.440 - Interview with John Rossant about the urban mobility revolution
No.451R - Defining the interface between city logistics and urban design: A systematic literature review
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Are you interested in how logistics influences urban planning? What do you think about pilots of collaborative logistics? How can we rethink logistics in regards to resilience?
Trailer for episode 452 - interview with Ron van Duin, applied research professor of Port & City Logistics at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and assistant professor at Delft University of Technology, Faculty Technology, Policy and Management. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, freight and transportation, drones, autonomous vehicles, rethinking logistics for resilience, and many more.
Find out more in the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠episode⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
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Are you interested in how urban logistics and urban design are connected?
Debate of the article titled Defining the interface between city logistics and urban design: a systematic literature review from 2026, by Jiayu Joslyn Sun, Lóránt Tavasszy, and Ron van Duin, published in the Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives journal.
This is a great preparation to our next interview with Ron van Duin in episode 452 talking about the connection between urban freight and planning.
Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see how freight activities increasingly impact the functional and aesthetic quality of metropolitan environments. This article suggests that while functional and morphological aspects are well-studied, the social, perceptual, and visual impacts of logistics remain significantly overlooked.
Find the article through this link.
Abstract: Logistics services have become crucial in shaping urban spaces and influencing urban dynamics. However, despite growing scholarly and policy attention in recent years, their implications for urban design remain unevenly addressed and insufficiently integrated across themes and methods. Addressing the challenges of urban freight transport does not rely solely on transportation perspectives but instead requires interdisciplinary collaboration. This study conducts a systematic literature review following the PRISMA protocol to examine city logistics through an urban design lens, guided by a framework of six urban design dimensions. The main objectives are to introduce an urban design perspective into the urban freight transport discourse, identify existing research gaps, and propose a framework for future studies. A total of 83 publications were reviewed. A descriptive bibliometric analysis shows that scholarly attention to this topic has significantly increased in the past two years. An inductive thematic analysis reveals four thematic clusters: (1) problematisation, (2) analysis of traffic conflicts, (3) curbside design and management, and (4) freight facility integration. By synthesising these thematic patterns, the study proposes research opportunities within each urban design dimension to guide future investigation. The paper contributes to the literature by offering a comprehensive understanding of freight transport from an urban design perspective, conceptualising urban design as distinct from other urban research fields, and outlining cross-disciplinary pathways that can bridge city logistics and urban design.
Connected episodes you might be interested in:
No.344 - Interview with Mark Coates about challenges of urban delivery
No.439R - How autonomous vehicles can affect anomalies of urban transportation
No.440 - Interview with John Rossant about the urban mobility revolution

Are you interested in how logistics influences urban planning? What do you think about pilots of collaborative logistics? How can we rethink logistics in regards to resilience?
Trailer for episode 452 - interview with Ron van Duin, applied research professor of Port & City Logistics at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and assistant professor at Delft University of Technology, Faculty Technology, Policy and Management. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, freight and transportation, drones, autonomous vehicles, rethinking logistics for resilience, and many more.
Find out more in the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠episode⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
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Are you interested in how logistics influences urban planning? What do you think about pilots of collaborative logistics? How can we rethink logistics in regards to resilience?
Trailer for episode 452 - interview with Ron van Duin, applied research professor of Port & City Logistics at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and assistant professor at Delft University of Technology, Faculty Technology, Policy and Management. We will talk about his vision for the future of cities, freight and transportation, drones, autonomous vehicles, rethinking logistics for resilience, and many more.
Find out more in the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠episode⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.
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