Cities and logistics service providers increasingly consider city logistics as an opportunity for the ecologically and socially viable supply and disposal of cities. To date, mainly large cities experiment with city logistics concepts. Lienz (East Tyrol) offers the possibility to transfer the idea to a provincial town and its surrounding semi-urban area. The railway station Lienz is currently being transformed into a regional mobility hub. Its location close to the town centre calls for the implementation of a city logistics hub, which could help reduce motorised delivery traffic in the town centre and generate positive effects for the town and the region.

In this exploratory study, we will develop climate friendly and CO2-reduced delivery strategies. We will involve the local population and merchants in gathering information about current problems with delivery and collection of parcels (delivery traffic, also in the pedestrian zone, multiple delivery attempts, consumption of public space, etc.). We will also identify strategies to overcome possible barriers. In addition, a broad range of solutions for ecologically compatible and socially balanced supplementary functions and services of such a logistics hub will be contemplated – from the management as a social-economic enterprise to the waste avoidance and disposal on the supply side. We will assess the effects of such measures on local and regional traffic with the aid of locally gathered data and prepare the ground for a subsequent R&D project.

The integrated mobility hub that is currently being built in Lienz provides a unique base for conceptually researching socially and ecologically viable city logistics and for deriving practical applications.