Changing the Last Mile deliverables for Eindhoven

Two groups of students, with a mixed background in Spatial Development, Mobility and Logistics, worked for almost 20 weeks on a project to advice the city of Eindhoven on new concepts of last mile delivery in two crowded streets in Eindhoven: Stratumseind, famous for its bars, and Kleine Berg, the hotspot in Eindhoven for restaurants.

Eindhoven will introduce a Zero Emission Zone (ZEZ) in the whole city centre as from 2025. In 2030 each vehicle that enters the city centre must be sustainable, knowing that the city will expand massively the upcoming decade (i.e adding 20.000 new inhabitants in KnoopXL development in central station area). Introducing a ZEZ will have a huge impact on the way companies get their deliveries. The municipality asked our students to investigate the impact – and opportunities – to deliver goods in a different, more sustainable, way.

Both groups focussed on creating an Urban Consolidation Center (UCC) to minimize the number of vans and trucks delivering goods on both streets. Using a UCC for last mile deliveries is an existing concept, there are multiple examples of a UCC. But in this case, the UCC is not a goal in itself, it is a way to decrease the amount of vans in both streets in order to create a more liveable, greener and safer environment. And next to that, entrepreneurs will be able to use that street for terraces resulting in an increased revenue.

Bottom line, the concept seems valuable for each stakeholder. But the students also emphasized some key challenges: support and ownership. As an advice, the students proposed to consider a Living Lab as next step. A challenging new project for our students to research!