Multi-criteria, multi-stakeholder decision analysis on urban freight sustainability initiatives

Abstract

The research work is dedicated to a deep understanding of main characteristics of urban freight sustainability (UFS) initiatives and key leverages for right decision. Multiple criteria and multiple stakeholders are the two major leverages identified upon thorough analysis. UFS initiatives should be able to cope with all three aspects of the environmental-economic-social sustainability triad. With any of the three missing in the objectives, the decision is liable to fail. Meanwhile, only considering multiple criteria is not sufficient for a successful implementation. Specifically incorporating all stakeholders in the decision process is a decisive step. The thesis answered this challenge by combining and adapting the traditional multi-criteria decision analysis and the multi-criteria multi-stakeholder project evaluation methodology to specifically consider the stakeholders in the decision model. A four-initiative case study is carried out to verify the applicability of the methodology.