Seeking equity and justice in urban freight: where to look?

Urban freight systems embed and reflect spatial inequities in cities and imbalanced power structures within transport decision-making. These concerns are principal domains of transportation justice (TJ) and mobility justice (MJ) scholarship that have emerged in the past decade. However, little research exists situating urban freight within these prevailing frameworks, which leaves urban freight research on socio-environmental equity and justice ill-defined, especially compared to passenger or personal mobility discussions. Through the lens that derives from TJ and MJ's critical dialogue, this study synthesises urban freight literature's engagement with equity and justice. Namely, the review evaluates: How do researchers identify equitable distributions of urban freight's costs and benefits? At what scale do researchers evaluate urban freight inequities? And who does research consider entitled to urban freight equity and how are they involved in urban freight governance? The findings help inform researchers who seek to reimagine urban freight management strategies within broader equity and justice discourse.

Automated summary

Urban freight systems reflect spatial inequities and imbalanced power structures within transport decision-making. However, research on socio-environmental equity and justice in urban freight is not well-defined compared to discussions on passenger mobility. This study synthesises the engagement of urban freight literature with equity and justice, providing insights for researchers seeking to reimagine freight management within a broader discourse on equity and justice.