Urban freight concepts and practice: would a traditional UCC scheme work?

This paper aimed to show that planner-led UCC solutions are untenable in the modern liberal economy. Our analysis suggests that the top down imposition of a Ur-ban Consolidation Centre (UCC) works only in clearly controlled domains. We have studied urban freight concepts and practice and it is our contention that most UCC initia-tives fail in a liberal economy where free choice and market economics apply. In under-pinning this contention we have compiled, analysed and categorised a set of the UCC schemes known to have operated, left evidence of their existence, and been captured by the research community. In this paper we present two case study examples that show that within the construction sector UCCs can be utilised successfully to create efficient and forward-thinking logistics operations. Whilst it might be true for the construction sector, we have not found evidence that it might be true for other sectors.