UNCHAIN Transferability Guidelines
From One City to the Next: A roadmap for adapting and transferring UNCHAIN solutions across Europe.
What is UNCHAIN?
UNCHAIN is a Horizon Europe project helping cities plan, manage and operate urban logistics in a more sustainable, efficient and data-driven way through innovative digital services, planning tools and collaborative governance.
Across seven European cities, UNCHAIN develops, tests and validates 12 practical solutions that support better freight planning, traffic management and logistics operations before enabling their transfer to other urban contexts.
UNCHAIN Cities
Seven European cities with different urban freight challenges committed to explore how innovative solutions can be tested, adapted and replicated across diverse contexts.
- Living Lab CityBerlinCongestion forecasting & safe routingValidating data-driven planning and policy support tools to improve freight management, urban logistics operations and sustainable mobility across a large metropolitan area.
- Living Lab CityFlorenceHistoric-core logisticsDemonstrating integrated logistics management solutions within a historic urban environment, balancing operational efficiency with heritage preservation and public space management.
- Living Lab CityMadridCurbside, delivery & shared facilitiesTesting innovative urban logistics services in a dense metropolitan environment, focusing on curb side management, freight operations and sustainable last-mile delivery.
- Follower CityMechelenConstruction logisticsAssessing how UNCHAIN solutions can be transferred to a medium-sized city through local adaptation, stakeholder engagement and policy alignment with a focus in adapting the solutions to construction logistics.
- Follower CityPragueCurbside & pick-up/drop-offEvaluating the transferability of planning and operational solutions to support sustainable freight management within an evolving urban mobility context.
- Follower CityFunchalIsland logisticsExploring how innovative logistics solutions can be adapted to the specific geographical and operational conditions of an island city.
- Follower CityRigaActive UVARs & permitsTesting the applicability of UNCHAIN services to strengthen urban logistics planning, governance and digital transformation for freight operations.
UNCHAIN services
Explore UNCHAIN 12 urban logistics services tested across Living Labs and Follower Cities in the project.
- KER6
Active UVARs and City Regulations Tool
Tool to enhance communication between local authorities and urban logistics operators by digitally managing transit and parking access within the city's Limited Traffic Zones (LTZs) and Low Emission Zones (LEZs).
See it in - KER8
Dynamic Curbside Management Tool
Tool to manage curb side use by defining the permitted duration and purpose of each parking slot (logistics, PRM pick-up/drop-off, kids at school and general), enhancing urban mobility, reducing congestion, improving traffic flow and optimising limited curb space.
See it in - KER9
Dynamic Management of Pick-up / Drop-off Points
Tool to improve urban space and logistics management through more efficient use of loading/unloading zones. It gives a real-time, map-based view of parking bay occupancy by combining live sensor data with historical reports, while logistics operators get real-time bay availability and can book spaces in predefined time slots.
See it in - KER10
IT Pop-Up Delivery Points Management Tool
Provides a flexible solution by temporarily designating specific locations as pickup and drop-off delivery points, to adapt to abnormal peak demand at certain periods of the year.
See it in - KER11
Logistics Operator Monitoring System & Incentives Tool
Lets the local authority define reward policies that encourage virtuous logistics operator behaviour, while a mobile app tracks operators' activity, shows their acquired rewards and assesses adherence to urban freight regulations.
See it in - KER12
Congestion Forecasting & Safe Route Planning Tool
Offers optimized routing for cargo bikes and delivery vehicles by combining static and dynamic data. It prioritizes safety by accounting for accident hotspots, vulnerable road users and local infrastructure.
See it in - KER13
Advanced Management IT Cockpit of Shared Facilities
Promotes the shared use of facilities among various logistics operators while optimizing available space. Used in parking spaces for logistics purposes, with parking managers able to monitor and share real-time information on slot availability/occupancy and licence plate recognition.
See it in
Transferability Approach
The UNCHAIN transferability approach combines practical implementation experience from the Living Labs with a structured assessment carried out together with the Follower Cities. The resulting guidelines identify the conditions, adaptations and recommendations needed to successfully replicate each solution in different urban contexts.
- 1
Living Labs
- 2
Demonstration
- 3
Evaluation
- 4
Transferability Assessment
- 5
Validation with Cities
- 6
Transferability Guidelines
- 7
Replication by European Cities
City implementation timeline
The transferability guidelines build upon more than three years of technical development, large-scale demonstrations and knowledge exchange and peer-to-peer learning activities between Living Lab and Follower Cities across the UNCHAIN consortium.
- 2023
Project launch & Requirements
- 2024
Solution development
- 2025
Living Lab preparation
- 2025–2026
Pilot deployment
- 2026
Testing & Evaluation
- 2026
Transferability Assessment
- 2026
Replication Guidelines
General Recommendations
Across the UNCHAIN pilots, common conditions emerged as important for transferring urban logistics solutions successfully to other cities.
The main lesson from UNCHAIN is that transferability is not about reproducing a solution exactly as it was tested elsewhere. Successful replication depends on understanding the local problem, assessing readiness, involving the right actors and adapting both the solution and its implementation process to the receiving city's own context and needs.
City guidelines
One guideline document per city, covering the service it deployed and the conditions a receiving city has to match.
