The Impact of Underground Logistics System on Urban Sustainable Development: A System Dynamics Approach

Jianjun Dong, Yuanxian Xu, Bon-gang Hwang, Rui Ren and Zhilong Chen
Additional contact information
Jianjun Dong: School of Civil Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211816, China
Yuanxian Xu: School of Defense Engineering, Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing 210007, China
Bon-gang Hwang: Department of Building, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117566, Singapore
Rui Ren: School of Defense Engineering, Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing 210007, China
Zhilong Chen: School of Defense Engineering, Army Engineering University of PLA, Nanjing 210007, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-21

Abstract: The lack of practical application and accurate benefit analysis, which are the prerequisites for each other, make it difficult to implement and promote the underground logistics system (ULS), although in theory people always recognize its advantages in sustainable improvement of urban transportation and logistics. This paper attempts to use the system dynamics (SD) method, based on the real-world simulation, to analyze the quantitative relationship between the implementation strategy of ULS and the sustainability of urban transportation and logistics to solve this problem. Beijing city, China, was selected as the empirical background. Four ULS implementation strategies were proposed according to the city’s potential investment in ULS and its demand for ULS network capacity. Meanwhile, four representative indicators were selected to evaluate the simulation results, including the average speed of the road networks in the peak hour, congestion loss, delivery travel time in the peak hour and the PM emissions of the truck. Good fitting index of historical data shows the validity of the model. Simulation results show that ULS, as a supplement to the urban integrated transport system, can significantly improve urban traffic and logistics. This study provides a perspective in the systematic and quantitative analysis of ULS to support the urban sustainable development.

Keywords: underground logistics system; system dynamics; urban sustainable development; benefit analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/5/1223/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/5/1223/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:5:p:1223-:d:209062

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().