Freight transport of goods is an indispensable part of everyday life. Without it there would be no delivery of products such as food, water, construction material, technology, furniture, clothes and society, as we know it today, would collapse.  However, there are more and less sustainable ways of transporting goods. Today, the number of freight transport vehicles in cities is increasing steadily which contributes to traffic congestion, unsafety, insecurity, air pollution, noise pollution and climate change. Moreover, as the e-commerce flows are increasing, the importance of sustainable last-mile deliveries increases as well.   The research methods used were literature study and interviews. Firstly, the literature study was realized before two pre-knowledge interviews were conducted. Finally, ten semi structured interviews were conducted with experts, strategists, logisticians,  project managers and consultants.   The data suggests that sustainable urban freight transport can be accomplished with UCCs in combination with cargo bikes to reduce cars in the city. This can be done with the help of four ideas - collaboration, incentives, research and developed bicycle infrastructure.  UCCs are not a new concept but there are few centers that endure due to several factors; flawed business models, lack of expertise or research, subvention dependency and stakeholders’ various engagement and involvement levels. Also, a certain percent of freight that is transported by trucks can be substituted by cargo bicycles but in order to enhance the development of utilizing cargo bicycles as a last-mile delivery option, research and knowledge gap need to be addressed. The conclusion indicates that collaboration between stakeholders, specifically between the private and public sector, is integral. The results also highlight that off-peak deliveries and sustainable last-mile deliveries are feasible solutions. There are knowledge gaps in how UCCs and cargo bikes operate which are potential opportunities for areas of improvement and development. Lastly, policies and regulations set by the local authorities play an integral role to guide the freight industry development towards a more sustainable freight transport. / Godstransport av varor är avgörande i vardagen. Utan fungerande godstransporter skulle det inte finnas leveranser av produkter såsom mat, vatten, byggmaterial, teknik, möbler och kläder, och samhället, som vi är vana vid idag, skulle kollapsa.  Det finns emellertid mer och mindre hållbara sätt att transportera varor på. Idag ökar antalet godstransportfordon i stadskärnor stadigt vilket bidrar till trafikträngsel, osäkerhet, otrygghet, luftföroreningar, buller och klimatförändringar. Dessutom ökar e-handelns flöde i rask fart vilket leder till att betydelsen av hållbara last-mile leveranser ökar likaså. Forskningsmetoderna som användes var en litteraturstudie och intervjuer. Först genomfördes litteraturstudien, följt av två intervjuer för att få en förståelse och en gedigen bakgrund i ämnet. Slutligen genomfördes tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med experter, strateger, logistiker, projektledare och konsulter för att få en fördjupad kunskap om bl.a. problem och utvecklingsmöjligheter inom ämnesområdet.  Resultaten antyder att godstransporter kan utföras med hjälp av samlastningscentraler (UCC) i kombination med lastcyklar för att minska antalet bilar i staden. Effektiva samlastningscentraler ställer krav på väl utvecklat samarbete, incitament, forskning och cykelinfrastruktur. UCC är inget nytt koncept, men det finns få center som överlever på grund av flera faktorer: bristfälliga affärsmodeller, brist på expertis eller forskning, subventionsberoende samt olika nivåer av engagemang och deltagande från intressenter. En viss andel av godstransporterna som utförs med lastbilar kan ersättas av lastcyklar. För att främja utvecklingen av användningen av lastcyklar som last-mile lösning krävs dock forskning och ökad kunskap.  Slutsatsen pekar på att samarbete mellan intressenter, särskilt mellan privata och offentliga sektorer, är avgörande. Resultaten belyser också att off-peak leveranser lågtrafikperioder och hållbara last-mile lösningar är genomförbara alternativ. Det finns kunskapsluckor när det gäller drift av UCC och lastcyklar, vilket kan ses som en möjlighet till förbättring och utveckling. Slutligen spelar lokala myndigheters policys och regler en viktig roll för att styra godstransportindustrins utveckling mot en mer hållbar transport av gods.

Cargo cycles can play a considerable role in mitigating the negative impacts of urban freight transport while still ensure that the material needs of the city are fulfilled. Their small size, lower operating costs, smaller carbon footprint, lack of tailpipe emissions, and manoeuvrability in congested areas are considerable advantages over traditional urban freight vehicles. However, the advantages of cargo cycles are not inherent in every urban environment and under all conditions. This problematics is in general insufficiently researched and more context specific knowledge is needed. Thus, this study investigates the obstacles and facilitating factors for utilising cargo cycles in urban freight transport in Stockholm, Sweden. To investigate these context specifications, case study approach was employed and consisted of qualitative content analysis, semi-structured interviews, and observations. This study argues that in Stockholm, contradictory forces affect the utilisation of cargo cycles in urban freight transport. On one hand, the facilitating factors are mostly associated with measures of sustainable urban freight transport and sustainable development in general: reaction to traffic situation; strategic orientation of the city; public-private partnership; and bicycle infrastructure. On the other hand, path dependence of the city connected to traditional urban freight vehicles (vans) symbolises obstacles: the absence of direct planning for cargo cycles; lack of recognition; and inconsistency of bicycle infrastructure.

There is a need to reduce global carbon emissions in order to limit climate change, especially from the transport sector, as it contributes to a large share of these emissions. This thesis explores carbon emissions from urban freight transport in Oslo, Norway, and Stockholm, Sweden, and the measures and strategies that have been implemented in accordance with the municipalities’ targets. In addition, the involvement of relevant freight transport companies in these issues has been investigated, as well as the challenges and possibilities related to reducing carbon emissions from urban freight transport. Both municipalities have expressed ambitions to adhere to the European Union’s goals of emission reduction. However, based on the observations of this thesis, it is evident that the municipalities have yet to adequately implement impactful measures for urban freight transport, in order to reduce carbon emissions from this sector if they are to achieve their goals. The results show that that Oslo municipality has access to a substantial amount of data and statistics regarding urban freight transport, but is lacking a comprehensive freight plan. Stockholm municipality, on the other hand, has an urban freight transport plan, but is lacking comprehensive data and statistics about urban freight transport. The focus on - and inclusion of - urban freight transport in comprehensive urban planning could be argued to be increasing, but we contend that there is still a need to increase knowledge and understanding regarding emission reduction for urban freight transport across departments and cities, in order to reach a more sustainable future for urban freight transport.

The Urban Freight Transportation System faces many uncertainties and challenges in its future development. In the discussion regarding how to mitigate the challenges, the implementation of Urban Hubs is often brought up. However, most of the literature that exists within the field focuses on the logistic system as a whole, rather than the actual hubs specifically. The research gap regarding how Urban Hubs should be designed in order to be efficient with regards to multiple future scenarios, but also easy to adapt once so is needed, has been targeted throughout this study. The importance of robustness and adaptiveness has been underlined, and these concepts have in turn been linked to modularization, and the use of future scenario frameworks, respectively. This study has resulted in a proposed framework for constructing robust Urban Hubs, which was obtained by adapting a modularization framework, and integrating a future scenario framework for Urban Freight Transportation. The proposed framework has an extensive evaluation process, incorporating both Customer Values and future scenarios in the metrics, thus shedding extra light on this part of the construction process. The proposed framework was also tested in the study, through constructing and evaluating four different hub configurations, spanning from small to large, in order to determine which hub that performed best in the largest number of scenarios. The evaluation results could in turn contribute with indications as to what characterizes such a Hub configuration. In order to be able to construct the proposed framework, an understanding of Urban Hubs' layouts, functionalities included, and flow of goods, had to be obtained. This was done through conducting interviews with relevant stakeholders connected to Swedish Urban Hubs. Through the interviews, similarities and differences between Swedish Urban Hubs could be identified, thereby describing how the Swedish Urban Hub landscape looks today. Since the literature describing Urban Hubs is scarce, the study thus contributes towards filling that research gap as well. / Hållbara urbana godstransportssystem står inför många osäkerheter och utmaningar under sin fortsatta utveckling. I diskussionen kring hur dessa utmaningar ska kunna mildras, nämns ofta implementationen av Urbana Hubbar. Den existerande litteraturen inom området fokuserar dock mest på hela logistiksystemet, snarare än de Urbana Hubbarna specifikt. Avsaknaden inom forskningen vad gäller hur Urbana Hubbar bör bli designade i syfte att både vara robusta med avseende på flera olika framtidsscenarion och samtidigt även lätt kunna anpassas när så krävs, är vad denna studie har syftat till att undersöka. Vikten av både robusthet och möjligheten att anpassa sig har blivit underbyggd i studien, och koncepten har i sin tur kopplats till modularisering, respektive användandet av ramverk för framtidsscenarion. Studien resulterade i ett föreslaget ramverk för att konstruera robusta Urbana Hubbar, vilket erhölls genom att anpassa ett modulariseringsramverk, och integrera det tillsammans med ett ramverk för framtidsscenarion inom Urbana Godstransporter. Det föreslagna ramverket innefattar en omfattande evalueringsprocess, som både har integrerat Kundvärden och scenariospecifika parametrar i sina mått, och därmed tydligt visar på vikten av denna del under konstruktionsprocessen.  Det föreslagna ramverket testades dessutom i studien, genom att kontruera och utvärdera fyra olika hubbkonfigurationer, som tillsammans spände upp en rymd från mindre konfigurationer till större, mer komplexa varianter. Detta för att kunna fastställa vilken av dem som presterade bäst i flest scenarion. Resultaten från utvärderingen kunde i sin tur bidra med indikationer på vad som karaktäriserar en sådan hubbkonfiguration. För att kunna konstruera det föreslagna ramverket, krävdes djup förståelse för Urbana Hubbars layout, vilka funktionaliteter de innefattar, samt hur processflödet inuti hubbarna går till. Detta erhölls genom intervjuer med relevanta aktörer som var kopplade till svenska Urbana Hubbar. Genom intervjuerna kunde likheter och skillnader mellan svenska Urbana Hubbar identifieras, och från det kunde en kartläggning över svenska Urbana Hubbar göras. Eftersom litteraturen som beskriver Urbana Hubbar är knapp, bidrar studien dämred även till att fylla det forskningsgapet inom området.