Forth Annual Symposium for City Logistics for the Urban Economy
The City Logistics for the Urban Economy (CLUE) initiative recently hosted its Fourth Annual Symposium and Poster Competition, highlighting a year of innovative research in urban freight and logistics. Organized in partnership with the Smart Freight Centre—a collaborative effort involving McMaster University, Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, York University, and key public- and private-sector stakeholders across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA)—the event drew over 80 participants from academia, government, and industry.
The symposium opened with welcoming remarks from Professor Matt Roorda of the University of Toronto.
Throughout the day, participants engaged in lively discussions, exchanged insights, and forged new connections across disciplines and sectors, reaffirming the importance of collaboration in shaping the future of sustainable and efficient urban logistics.
The symposium featured two sessions with four poster themes. There were 39 posters in total with an average of 9 to 10 posters per theme. The themes were:
- Theme 1: Novel Techniques and Technologies
- Theme 2: Optimizing Last-Mile Deliveries
- Theme 3: Data, Modelling and Forecasting
- Theme 4: Energy, Electrification and Social Impact
For each theme, a best-poster award was given to celebrate outstanding research presentations.
- For theme 1 – Novel Techniques and Technologies – the Geotab Best Poster Award was given to Yunfei Ma, from McMaster University for their poster on “Evaluating the Impact of Higher Order Transit Infrastructure on Freight Movement: A Telematics Approach”. The image below shows Yunfei receiving the award by John Ballantyne (Vice President of Video Products at Geotab) on behalf of Geotab.
- For theme 2 – Optimizing Last-Mile Deliveries – the Purolator Best Poster Awad was given to Azin Golrizkhatami, from the University of Toronto for their poster on “Learning to Deliver: Deep RL-Based Policy Optimization in a Simulated Food Delivery Environment”. The image below shows Azin receiving the award by Serbo Dimic (Research Manager at Purolator) on behalf of Purolator.
- For theme 3 – Data, Modelling and Forecasting – the Mobility Network Best Poster Award was given to Jacob Klimczak, from the University of Toronto for their poster on “Gridlock in the Dugout: Quantifying the Effects of induced Demand by the Toronto Blue Jays”. The image below shows Jacob receiving the award by Sabbir Saiyed, from the City of Toronto, on behalf of Mobility Network.
- For theme 4 – Energy, Electrification and Forecasting – the Smart Freight Centre Best Paper Award was given to Sara Torbatian, from the University of Toronto for their poster on “Implications of Off-Peak Commercial Deliveries for Air Quality and Environmental Justice”. The image below shows Sara receiving the award by Professor Kevin Gingerich (Professor at York University) on behalf of the Smart Freight Centre.
Symposium Chair
Dr. Matthew Roorda, Canada Research Chair in Freight Transportation and Logistics. Professor, Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering, University of Toronto