The main objective of logistics is to co-ordinate the most important activities like: freight transport, storage, inventory management, materials handling and all the related information processing in a way that meets customer requirements at optimum cost。 In the past this cost has been defined in purely monetary terms。 As concern for the environment rises, companies pay more attention to the “external costs” of logistics associated mainly with climate change, air pollution, noise, vibration and accidents (www。greenlogistics。org/)。

Urban freight transport involves shippers, freight carriers, administrators and residents (consumers) – a configuration made all the more complex by the often times varying visions among these stakeholders with different goals and interests。 Simultaneously, freight carriers are expected to provide higher levels of service with lower costs (e。g。 Just-in-Time or short-time deliveries requirements)。 Since freight is the most influencing logistics’ activity on environment quality, logistics and supply chain management often concentrates on its optimization (mainly in the fields of time and cost and mostly it is driven by the level of customer service provided)。 To address these complicated and difficult problems, numerous city logistics schemes have been proposed and implemented including: cooperative freight transport systems, advanced information systems, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), urban consolidation centers, regulation of load factors, time windows for entering city center, off-hour delivery, and road pricing。 Other available tools helping to solve complex congestion problems in urban spatial are: ITS, Internet of Things (IoT) and/or Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) implemented by the private sector, all supported by Information and Communication Technology (ICT)。

Taking above determinants into consideration and analyzing global trends (influencing both – private and public

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sector activities), the sustainable logistics activities are the main areas of interest of the future Smart City。 That should be analyzed within the aspects of society (safety, health, access, equity), environment/ecology (climate change, air quality, noise, lad use, biopersity, waste) and economy (growth, efficiency, employment, competitiveness, choice)。 The sustainable logistics dimensions are presented on Figure 2。 (www。greenlogistics。org)。

Figure 2 Sustainable logistics dimensions。

City logistics can be then defined as, the process of totally optimizing urban logistics activities by considering the social, environmental, economic, financial and energy impacts of urban freight movement and/or, “the process for totally optimizing the logistics and transport activities by private companies with the support of advanced information systems in urban areas considering the traffic environment, its congestion, safety and energy savings within the framework of a market economy”。 It considers three aspects: mobility (smooth and reliable traffic flow including freight traffic), sustainability (environmentally friendly, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing the impact on the local environment) and livability (e。g。 growing importance of elderly residents’ specific needs) (Taniguchi, 2012)。

There is a wide range of literature emphasizing the negative impacts of freight transportation on the environment, air quality, safety and quality of life in cities caused in most of the cases by congestion。 At European level, the European Union recognized the need to reduce these externalities (European Commission, 2001)。 Due to this fact, logistics activities and management practices were developed in urban space and are the subject of worldwide analysis。 The examples of digital urban renewal initiatives using ICT tools in different categories of cities management layers are shown in Table 1。 (Green, 2011)。