Urban Freight Management with ITS

Urban freight activity is growing in scale and complexity, which places new demands on planning, operations, and policy. This chapter examines how Intelligent Transport Systems can support more efficient, reliable, and sustainable freight logistics in cities. It presents a layered architecture that links sensing, communications, data processing, and decision support so that operational data can be turned into timely actions. Data flow and interoperability requirements are outlined with attention to standards, middleware, and security that enable trusted information exchange among diverse actors. The chapter then describes the role of multi-criteria decision-making for balancing cost, service, environmental, and regulatory goals, and shows how these evaluations can be coupled with predictive and prescriptive analytics. Geographic Information Systems and digital twins are introduced as tools for spatial insight and safe testing of strategies before deployment. Two cases illustrate practice: dynamic routing at parcel scale and city-level digital twin applications. The chapter closes with barriers to integration and adoption, and proposes directions for policy and implementation.