The Role of the Transport and Logistics Observatory in Gathering Knowledge for Sustainable Urban Logistics Development

Abstract

A well-functioning urban logistics system is one of the dimensions that can contribute to the realisation of a smart sustainable city. This is because smart logistics systems are characterised by the sustainability of flows, which requires the use of various types of modern logistics technologies, including storage, transport and information technologies. Sustainable city logistics aims to reduce the nuisance associated with the flow of people and goods in urban areas, while maintaining the social and economic development of the organisations and cities involved. Data on urban flows of people and goods are scattered, as are decisions on how to organise urban flows.  This makes knowledge management in such a complex system extremely difficult, especially in the first stage of the process - identifying and collecting knowledge. The article points out that building knowledge resources for effective decision-making in the field of sustainable urban logistics requires the involvement of different stakeholders. Involving stakeholders in building knowledge resources for sustainable flows of people and goods in the city is a task that can be undertaken by public administration units or independent organisations set up for this purpose. The aim of this article is to define the role of an observatory in the process of gathering knowledge on logistics flows in cities. In order to achieve this objective, a literature review was carried out, focusing on the role of stakeholders in knowledge collection, the types of data and knowledge needed to achieve sustainable flows in the city, and the ways in which data and knowledge can be collected. Two models of knowledge gathering were identified - a decentralised model and a centralised model. The centralised model proposes the coordination of knowledge collection by a regional specialist observatory. The case study analysed the collection of data and knowledge by the Transport and Logistics Observatory in the Silesian Voivodeship. The result of the study is the development of a concept for the collection of logistical knowledge in cities in a centralised model and the identification of conditions and limitations for the implementation of such a concept.