Modeling the Complexity of City Logistics Systems for Sustainability

Abstract: The logistics of urban areas are becoming more sophisticated due to the fast city population growth. The stakeholders are faced with the challenges of the dynamic complexity of city logistics(CL) systems characterized by the uncertainty effect together with the freight vehicle emissions causing pollution. In this conceptual paper, we present a research methodology for the environmental sustainability of CL systems that can be attained by effective stakeholders' collaboration under non-chaotic situations and the presumption of the human levity tendency. We propose the mathematical axioms of the uncertainty effect while putting forward the notion of condition effectors, and how to assign hypothetical values to them. Finally, we employ a spider network and causal loop diagram to investigate the system's elements and their behavior over time.