Open research questions in Urban and Freight Transport Logistics

What the literature leaves open

• Further research could explore the application of the framework to a larger sample of air cargo carriers. Investigating the impact of digitalization on specific operational areas, such as process automation and real-time shipment visibility, would be beneficial.

  Measuring Digitalization in Air Cargo Logistics: Development of an Evaluation Framework for Air Cargo Carriers · 2026 · DOI

• The paper highlights the need for explicit documentation of freight records and the importance of using appropriate measurement units. The study notes that infrastructure or causal interpretation of road freight flows requires independent evidence.

  Territorial and Functional Concentration and Directed Departmental Structure of Colombian Road Freight Flows: RNDC Evidence for 2022–2025 · 2026 · DOI

• The complexity of urban freight transport systems and the need for effective management strategies. The challenge of balancing environmental, operational, economic, and social objectives in urban freight management. The limited availability of data on UVARs and loading zone management across global cities.

  Exploring the Relationship Between Urban Vehicle Access Regulations and Loading Zone Management: An Exploratory Typology Across Selected Global Cities · 2026 · DOI

• Infrastructure development and investment needs. Technological solutions and their limitations. Political and regulatory factors influencing the adoption of electric vehicles. Complex challenges involving the integration of expert opinions and quantitative assessment of key factors and their interactions.

  Electric Vehicle Adoption in Urban Logistics: A Nonlinear Interaction and Scenario Analysis in the Case of Lithuania · 2026 · DOI

• One challenge is the potential for anomaly exclusion to weaken significance. Another challenge is the need to avoid imposing an unsupported uniform lease duration or claiming a mechanism specific to high-standard warehouses. The paper also notes that differences in cargo composition and catchments remain possible moderators for future facility-level work.

  When Freight Activity Falls: Asymmetric Warehouse Rent Adjustment and Implications for Sustainable Logistics Space Planning in China, 2018–2025 · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of extensive exposition of AI use cases in freight logistics in the peer-reviewed literature. Prior work has explored the use of AI in logistics, but there is a need for a systematic identification and exploration of AI use cases in freight logistics.

  Shaping the Future of Freight Logistics: Use Cases of Artificial Intelligence · 2025 · DOI

• The need to balance between economic growth, environmental goals, and society wealth in sustainable city logistics development.

  A Combined Multi-Criteria Decision-Making and Social Cost–Benefit Analysis Approach for Evaluating Sustainable City Logistics Initiatives · 2025 · DOI

• While multimodal forecasting methods have progressed, short-term interactions between vehicle classes remain underexplored, particularly in real-world operational settings.

  Short-term lagged interactions between freight and passenger volumes in urban traffic: inter- and intra-modal effects with explainable machine learning · 2026 · DOI

• The rapid growth of e-commerce has created new transportation challenges through increased product returns, yet the behavioral determinants of delivery return patterns remain understudied from a consumer-centric perspective.

  The reverse side of online shopping: examining sociodemographic and built-environment determinants of delivery returns · 2026 · DOI

• Despite growing academic interest, empirical evidence remains limited regarding how convenience-related last-mile service attributes influence customer satisfaction, while the sector is undergoing a revolutionary transformation.

  A Refined Kano Model Approach to Sustainable Last-Mile Convenience Services and Customer Satisfaction · 2026 · DOI

• Smart parcel lockers (SPLs) offer a technology-enabled out-of-home delivery solution, yet limited evidence explains consumer adoption in Saudi Arabia.

  Optimizing Last-Mile Delivery Solutions: An Investigation into User Behavioral Intention to Use Smart Parcel Lockers in Saudi Arabia · 2026 · DOI

• The paradoxical novelty of the approach, which includes only the 'university community' without incorporating the actual current stakeholders of LML into the population under investigation. The potential bias that might distort the vision of the future of sustainable LML in the coming years.

  Perceived Research Priorities in Sustainable Urban Logistics: Insights from the University Community Using a Hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Model · 2026 · DOI

• Fragmented standards, limited refueling options, and elevated insurance and maintenance requirements. Technical, organizational, and regulatory complexity introduced by the hydrogen system. The theoretical benefits of hydrogen, extended range and rapid refueling, were rarely required in real-world conditions.

  Barriers to fuel cell cargo bike adoption in urban logistics: a multi-level transition analysis · 2026 · DOI

• By showing that several relationships are non-linear and depend on the spatial scale at which retail access is measured, the results help reconcile mixed evidence and provide a basis for anticipating where freight activity is likely to concentrate.

  Take it to the streets: Spatial and sociodemographic determinants of e-commerce demand in the Netherlands · 2026 · DOI

• Existing research points to methodological weaknesses, fragmented governance, and limited stakeholder engagement, but these problems have rarely been examined jointly through collective-action and narrative perspectives.

  Weaving stories into policies: integrating storytelling in urban freight participatory planning · 2026 · DOI

• Insufficient research on regional heterogeneity. Insufficient multi-dimensional systematic comparison. Insufficient completeness of model comparisons.

  A Geographically Enhanced LightGBM Approach to Intelligent Freight Transportation Cost Prediction · 2026 · DOI

• Substantial differences in technological implementation and system integration among air cargo carriers - Limited sector-specific evaluation frameworks - Need for a multidimensional perspective reflecting both technological and process-oriented…

  Measuring Digitalization in Air Cargo Logistics: Development of an Evaluation Framework for Air Cargo Carriers · 2026 · DOI

• Independent evidence is required for infrastructure or causal interpretation, - Further research on regional freight statistics is needed, - Analysis of other countries' road freight flows could be…

  Territorial and Functional Concentration and Directed Departmental Structure of Colombian Road Freight Flows: RNDC Evidence for 2022–2025 · 2026 · DOI

• Incorporating digital transformation tools and AI-based predictive analytics, - Expanding the framework to other medium-sized cities, - Developing collaborative platforms and marketplaces for logistics…

  Data-Driven Optimisation of Urban Freight Transport Using the Six Sigma DMAIC Methodology · 2026 · DOI

• The study only includes the university community without incorporating the actual current stakeholders of LML, - The study may lack credibility due to the exclusion of current professionals and academics working on sustainable…

  Perceived Research Priorities in Sustainable Urban Logistics: Insights from the University Community Using a Hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Model · 2026 · DOI

• Coverage gaps remain, and no missing values are imputed, - The analysis uses institutional access to secondary industry data, without human participants or personal records, - The underlying records and derived city-month panel cannot be redistributed, - The imprecise vacancy estimates do not demonstrate physical…

  When Freight Activity Falls: Asymmetric Warehouse Rent Adjustment and Implications for Sustainable Logistics Space Planning in China, 2018–2025 · 2026 · DOI

• Future studies aimed at improving sustainable transportation policies and practices, - Research on the integration of advanced technologies in transportation…

  Mapping the Path to Sustainable Urban Mobility: A Bibliometric Analysis of Global Trends and Innovations in Transportation Research · 2025 · DOI

• The study is based on a survey of 22 experts, - The study focuses on the city of Novi Sad, Serbia, - The study uses a specific methodology and model, - The generalizability of the results may be…

  A Combined Multi-Criteria Decision-Making and Social Cost–Benefit Analysis Approach for Evaluating Sustainable City Logistics Initiatives · 2025 · DOI

• Further innovation in logistics technology - Guide industry practices - Inform future…

  Shaping the Future of Freight Logistics: Use Cases of Artificial Intelligence · 2025 · DOI

• Very little is known about the consumers behind returns, especially those who return excessively…

  Consumer heterogeneity behind e-commerce returns and emissions · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Urban and Freight Transport Logistics

• Analysis of interactions among the barriers of reverse logistics · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · 2004 · 673 citations
• Developing a Theory of Reverse Logistics · INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics · 2000 · 463 citations
• Horizontal Cooperation in Transport and Logistics: A Literature Review · Transportation Journal · 2007 · 340 citations
• The Use of Third-Party Logistics Services by Large American Manufacturers: The 2004 Survey · Transportation Journal · 2005 · 308 citations
• The Effect of In-Store Travel Distance on Unplanned Spending: Applications to Mobile Promotion Strategies · Journal of Marketing · 2013 · 295 citations
• Solutions applicable by local administrations for urban logistics improvement · Cities · 2004 · 256 citations
• The importance of the Logistics Performance Index in international trade · Applied Economics · 2014 · 252 citations
• Collaborative destination marketing: A case study of Elkhart county, Indiana · Tourism Management · 2006 · 247 citations
• Applications of smart technologies in logistics and transport: A review · Transportation Research Part E Logistics and Transportation Review · 2021 · 241 citations
• Artificial Intelligence in Logistics Optimization with Sustainable Criteria: A Review · Sustainability · 2024 · 239 citations

Most recent work

• Distribution networks in transition: A European survey on challenges and opportunities · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · 2026
• Missing the forest for the trees: what road freight decarbonisation research overlooks · Transportation Research Part D Transport and Environment · 2026
• Digital nudging and eco-friendly Choices: A cross-national study on sustainable consumer behavior in mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) platforms · Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services · 2026
• Evaluating the road environment factors underpinning cargo bike safety and ease of movement: A sustainable urban mobility plan-driven MICMAC approach · Transportation Research Part E Logistics and Transportation Review · 2026
• An alternative last-mile delivery system: Leveraging microhubs and crowdshipping · Transportation Research Part D Transport and Environment · 2026
• Foreign city users and in-store versus online retail channel choice: Urban logistics and planning implications · Cities · 2026
• Understanding crowd-shipping acceptance: A hierarchical latent class personality-attitude hybrid choice model · Transportation Research Part A Policy and Practice · 2026
• Proximity freight strategies for urban sustainability · Transportation Research Part D Transport and Environment · 2026
• Barriers to fuel cell cargo bike adoption in urban logistics: a multi-level transition analysis · Frontiers in Sustainable Cities · 2026
• Drivers of consumers’ adoption of parcel lockers as an alternative last-mile delivery solution in emerging economies · Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives · 2026

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