City centers are becoming denser, and online shopping is booming. The result: more freight traffic moving through narrow urban streets. Research from NHH helps public authorities plan better for urban freight transport.
Behind every cup of coffee, construction project, and online order lies a delivery.
But who plans for freight traffic – and how livable do our cities become as a result?
The short answer is that the transport of goods and services is often forgotten in urban planning.
Growing e-commerce leads to more returns and re-deliveries — and therefore, more freight traffic. In Bergen, much of this is handled by numerous small transport operators, resulting in more trips, longer stops, and heavier traffic.
This comes on top of increased population density in the city center.
The result is higher energy use, greater land pressure, and more emissions — the opposite of what sustainable cities aim for. In Bergen’s case, difficult topography and an old street network make it especially challenging to predict the effects of new regulations.
Partners: NHH, CET/University of Bergen, City of Bergen, and others
Funding: Supported by the partners and NOK 10 million from the Research Council of Norway
Purpose: A toolbox for realistic urban logistics in small and complex cities
Method: Planning models that simulate transport operators’ decisions and test regulations before implementation
The CityFreight project (see fact box) addresses exactly this issue.
Led by Stein W. Wallace from NHH, researchers have developed mathematical planning models that simulate the decisions made by freight carriers.
Colleagues Postdoctoral Fellow Cosku Can Orhan, Associate Professor Julio Cesar Goez, and Professor Mario Guajardo at the Department of Business and Management Science have all contributed to this research and co-authored related academic papers.
These models make it possible to test new regulations “on the drawing board” before they are implemented, such as:
• Delivery time windows
• Loading zones and enforcement
• Detour restrictions
• Freight consolidation
The research quantifies consequences that are often discussed but rarely measured as a whole. One study examines how freight consolidation can influence urban life and living conditions in small cities by linking detailed route decisions to overall urban effects.
Orhan, Cosku Can; Goez, Julio Cesar; Guajardo, Mario; Osicka, Ondrej; Wallace, Stein W. (2024): Assessing macro effects of freight consolidation on the livability of small cities using vehicle routing as micro models: The case of Bergen, Norway. Published in Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review.
Orhan, Cosku Can; Soman, Jaikishan; Wallace, Stein W. (2024): Disconnecting a city centre to prevent through traffic: An a priori evaluation with a focus on freight transport. Published in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice.
Orhan, Cosku Can; Wallace, Stein W. (2025): E-commerce shipments in an X-minute city: Informing authorities on freight transport through parcel lockers. Published in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice.
Another study evaluates in advance what happens when city centers are closed to traffic, with a particular focus on goods delivery. These analyses have given the City of Bergen a stronger basis for evaluating trade-offs between accessibility, emissions, land use, and vibrant city life – and for choosing measures that work in a complex, hilly city like Bergen.
The NHH researchers, together with the University of Bergen, have worked closely with the municipality throughout the project period (2020–2026). Their insights have been used as input to planning and strategy work, changing how the city explicitly accounts for logistics when regulating traffic – not just passenger mobility.
“The aim is to understand how public authorities, through regulation, can influence the delivery of goods and parcels in smaller cities, using Bergen as an example.”
This statement comes from the City of Bergen’s report Goods Transport and Deliveries – A Knowledge Base (2023), which cites CityFreight as a central research contribution in developing new traffic plans for the city center. The municipality shows how theoretical models can be used to test future regulations before they are adopted, creating a shared knowledge base for planners, the transport industry, and policymakers.
What does this mean for the people of Bergen?
When research is integrated into the city’s planning framework, its impact becomes visible in everyday life: fewer unnecessary delivery vans in the streets, a safer and calmer urban environment, cleaner air, less noise — and, not least, more efficient freight transport.
In future development projects, municipal planners will now have better data and tools. This also applies to Dokken, a large harbor area just outside Bergen’s city center, now being redeveloped as a zero-emission neighborhood with housing, business, services, culture, and recreation.
As new city districts like Dokken emerge, freight research becomes even more relevant. Construction will require massive amounts of deliveries — from building materials and tradesmen to groceries, online orders, and takeaway food.
The CityFreight models make it possible to estimate how different policy options will affect traffic flow, noise, and emissions — before construction even begins.
The goal: to make freight logistics as carefully planned as public transport, so that new urban areas don’t inherit old transport problems.
