I-CROWD4FR8 – Integrated-CROWDshipping for FReight transport

The research program aimed to analyze the conditions of development and the levers that can promote the dissemination of crowdshipping, understood as the use of the “crowd” (crowd), to transport the goods
(Shipping).

The project lasted from 2016 to 2019.
In particular, this analysis is characterized by:
1. Urban scale – ie considering the urban population, understood as residents and city users, in
its planned and in any case systematic displacements (typically the one home-work, or even those
more frequent to and from places where sports, cultural, recreational activities are held, etc …);
2. Sustainability optics of urban mobility both for passengers and for goods – ie taking
account of the modal choice made for the movement referred to in point 1, in terms of the extent of the
external costs, and in particular the environmental impact.
Therefore, the research project is part of the more general framework of the sharing economy which provides for the coordinated sharing of goods and services, based on modern information communication technologies.
At the same time, it is also in agreement with the “avoid-shift-improve” approach to promote transport sustainable urban means: reduce the need for travel (avoid); use more shipping modes sustainable (shift); improve the energy efficiency of transport (improve).
With this in mind, crowdshipping appeared as an innovative, effective and efficient solution to deal with the new critical issues related to urban logistics, including, in particular, the spread of e-commerce.