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City Logistics and Life Cycle Assessments

Learn how to design effective urban freight transport strategies that reduce social, economic and environmental impacts.

  • Duration

    2 weeks
  • Weekly study

    10 hours

Learn to build and assess sustainable logistics strategies in urban areas

This course will enhance your knowledge of the organisation of sustainable city logistics strategies. You will determine the main impacts of urban freight transportation on local societies and understand how various operational and regulatory policies affect performance.

You will explore a range of innovative city logistics solutions from across the world and learn how to evaluate their social, economic and environmental impacts.

Overall, this course will integrate and consolidate your knowledge of sustainable development and ethical decision-making in the context of city logistics.

What topics will you cover?

Week 1: City logistics

  • City logistics
  • Urban freight transportation
  • Forward logistics
  • Deliveries
  • Last-mile
  • Reverse logistics
  • Collections
  • First-mile
  • Transport externalities (eg congestion, noise, vibration)
  • Online deliveries etc.

Week 2: Sustainable city logistics

  • City logistics solutions (eg pedestrian zones, reduced emission zones, out-of-hours deliveries
  • Consolidation centres
  • Click-and-collect schemes (parcel lockers, drones)
  • Carbon auditing tools
  • Emissions assessment
  • Life cycle analysis
  • Scenario analysis etc.

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Develop a broad understanding of city logistics focusing on both the forward (last-mile) and reverse (first-mile) segments of supply chains
  • Explore the underlying social, economic and environmental issues that arise as a result of freight movements in urban centres and identify key issues that must be addressed
  • Recognise the impact of e-commerce on last-mile and first-mile logistics
  • Explore how local measures, national policies and international regulations affect the organisation of urban logistics
  • Identify the main stakeholders involved in the organisation and implementation of city logistics schemes and understand their roles, responsibilities and expectations
  • Critically evaluate a range of innovative city logistics solutions established across the world (eg consolidation centres and pick-up/drop-off locations) to mitigate the social, economic and environmental impacts of urban freight transportation
  • Identify the impacts of new technologies on the organisation of city logistics and examine best practices from across the world (eg 3D printing and drones)
  • Apply appropriate carbon auditing tools to calculate greenhouse gas emissions from urban freight transportation and conduct life-cycle and scenario analyses
  • Critically assess and select the most sustainable city logistics solution considering its social, economic and environmental impact

Who is the course for?

This course will be of particular interest to those working in the logistics sector and various public organisations, such as transport and logistics planners, junior and middle business managers, urban designers, environmental experts, local authorities, policy makers, researchers, etc. It will provide them with the necessary skills and knowledge needed to design and establish innovative and efficient city logistics solutions while reducing their overall social, economic and environmental impacts.

Who developed the course?

Coventry University

Coventry secured 5 QS Stars for Teaching and Online Learning in the QS World University Ranking 2020 and has received No. 1 in the world for Massive Open Online Courses in MoocLab’s World University Ranking 2021.

  • Established

    1992
  • Location

    Coventry

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control

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