Third-party funded project

Creating Sustainable and Integrated Logistics Systems at Berlin's Holzmarkt Site Through Processual and Infrastructural Transformations (Stadtquartier 4.0)

Research department: Economy and Civil Society

IRS Research Topic: New Social Practices New Vulnerabilities and Resilience Strategies

Project Leader within IRS: Prof. Dr. Gabriela Christmann

Project Team: Dr. Ralph Richter

Consortium: LNC LogisticNetwork Consultants GmbH (Coordination) Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space Holzmarkt Betriebs-Gesellschaft mbH (HMB) Fraunhofer Institute Production Systems and Design Technology

Funding Organization: Federal Ministry of Education and Research<br/>

Duration: 02/2017 - 04/2020

stadtquartier-4-0
stadtquartier-4-0

Changing patterns in the production, consumption and delivery of goods are forcing urban quarters to adapt. In recent times, there has been a significant rise in the quantity of goods ordered and delivered. Increasingly, groceries for immediate consumption are also being ordered and delivered, alongside other products of mid- and long-term needs. The resultant rise in the quantity of transported goods, and the emergence of intricate delivery networks, pose a major challenge for cities. As ever more delivery vehicles navigate city streets, pollution and traffic congestion increase, while traffic accidents become more likely.
Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research has launched the “Urban Quarter 4.0” (Stadtquartier 4.0) research project in an effort to identify and experiment with solutions to such challenges. To this end, the project partners (IRS, the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology, the LogisticNetwork Consultants GmbH and Holzmarkt 25 eG) were pooling their expertise in the fields of logistics and mobility, as well as in urban farming and aquaponics, to explore possible solutions. They were seek to identify sustainable solutions that will encourage the local production of goods, the use of cargo bikes, and the utilisation of off-peak times and shared delivery vehicles. The project intended to thereby create a viable, networked and sustainable logistics system which will be tested at Berlin's Holzmarkt site.

News
June/24/2020

With its new, in-house online publication series "IRS Dialog", the IRS has created a framework for publishing research reports and working papers, as well as for stating its position in debates related to spatial-development policy. The first issue has now been released: a research report from the project “Stadtquartier 4.0” (“Urban Quarter 4.0”), showing how experts view the prospects of a reduction in urban delivery traffic. more info

Publications

Richter, R., Söding, M., & Christmann, G. (2020). Logistik und Mobilität in der Stadt von morgen: Eine Expert*innenstudie über letzte Meile, Sharing-Konzepte und urbane Produktion. (IRS Dialog; Vol. 2020, No. 1). Leibniz-Institut für Raumbezogene Sozialforschung. http://hdl.handle.net/10419/219451