large fleets of trucks deliver goods to distribution centers, an underground delivery network linking the logistics hub with which are then collected by another fleet of smaller vehicles an underground system that connected to buildings’ basements. for last-mile delivery. The tunnel network could have worked on a 24/7 basis and helped people and businesses to receive their shipments fast Sidewalk Labs planned to coordinate all deliveries (along with and without disruption to street-level life in the district. It could waste, storage, and borrowing services) at a new logistics hub have also reduced traffic congestion (Sidewalk Labs, 2017). on Quayside’s perimeter to reduce unnecessary truck traffic. All packages would have been stored within this hub before Sidewalk envisaged that self-driving dollies would have being transferred to a new “smart container” designed for last- circulated within the tunnels to distribute packages and other mile shipping via electric, self-driving delivery dollies operating deliveries to businesses and consumers. Sidewalk Labs also along a system of underground tunnels. suggested that, since drone delivery has proven its effectiveness in reducing traffic congestion and facilitating last-mile delivery, This approach could have enabled round-the-clock deliveries building roofs could be fitted with landing pads to allow drone that avoided disruption at street level, improved customer deliveries. convenience, and lowered costs for carriers in the form of reductions in time spent looking for parking, fewer tickets, and It would have been necessary to manage these freight services the opportunity to deliver full truckloads to the hub. as an integrated system that comprised an urban consolidation center, vehicle fleets, and storage facilities. This freight system 2.2.2 A neighborhood logistics hub for delivery and waste would have generated revenues from several sources: Sidewalk’s proposed neighborhood hub could have allowed • Residents could have paid to use its off-site storage; carriers to bundle deliveries and drop them off at one location, • Building managers could have paid to use the system for enabling time savings and reducing the number of truck trips waste removal; on streets. A study of Copenhagen conducted in 2017 found that • Local retailers could have used it to make deliveries and a delivery consolidation center could reduce the length of truck store inventory; journeys by 65 percent and reduce CO emissions by 70 percent2 • In addition, at the full scale of the IDEA District, shippers (Sidewalk Labs, 2017). These systems also help small retailers could have paid to make deliveries through it at a lower cost to compete with larger ones by reducing last-mile distribution than that usually incurred for last-mile delivery. costs through savings related to time, fuel, and parking tickets. In theory, centralization could have significantly reduced the number of trucks going into the Quayside area because it would have been possible to consolidate all of their deliveries into fewer vehicles that were organized by destination. This could have helped to reduce pressures placed on parking spaces and cut the wasted effort represented by failed delivery attempts. This hub could also have served as a waste consolidation site, where waste could have arrived through several routes. Landfill, organics, metal, glass, and plastic could have entered via underground vacuum tubes, while recyclable cardboard and other items that would not travel through the vacuum tube system could have come through the neighborhood freight system. This could have helped to reduce traffic congestion, since it could have provided a one-stop pickup for waste, and it would have also reduced the number of garbage trucks in circulation, a major source of traffic congestion within cities. 2.2.3 Connecting underground delivery tunnels into buildings To ensure less congested routes and help companies with the last mile of urban deliveries, Sidewalk Labs planned to create 174 Quélin and Smadja | HEC PARIS | SMART CITIES | The sustainable program of six leading cities | 2021