URBAN FREIGHT TRANSPORT ON THE RESIDENTS’ QUALITY OF LIFE – A STUDY IN PLANO PILOTO DE BRASÍLIA
city logistic, urban freight transport, structural equation modeling, PLS-SEM
Urban Freight Transport (UFT) is responsible for moving goods in urban areas to meet the needs of citizens, therefore, UFT is essential for economic development. However, the UFT contributes to the generation of adverse impacts on society and the environment, such as congestion and pollution. Since the UFT is, simultaneously, one of those responsible for maintaining the urban lifestyle and generating negative externalities that impact the lives of residents, this research assesses how the urban infrastructure and the negative externalities generated by the UFT influence the quality of life of the residents. It is assumed that urban infrastructure is the responsibility of public managers and influenced by the business community; negative externalities arise from UFT operations and are influenced by government actions. Finally, infrastructure and externalities influence the quality of life of residents. The research is carried out in Brasília, Brazil, a planned city with problems of heavy traffic, noise, air pollution and congestion. A questionnaire with 22 questions was developed to assess whether the negative externalities generated by the UFT, and urban infrastructure influence the perception of the population's quality of life. The questionnaire provides data to validate seven hypotheses developed for this research, presented via the web to the residents of the Plano Piloto of Brasília. 403 valid responses were obtained, which had their data analyzed by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), with the Partial Least Squares approach (PLS-SEM). The Training Composite model is configured with two independent variables (Public Management and Private Management), two intervening variables (Infrastructure and Externalities) and one dependent (Quality of Life). The results show that the population's quality of life is more influenced by the negative externalities generated by the UFT than by the urban infrastructure, the first being negative and the second positive. In addition, the results show a strong influence of public and private management on externalities and, on the other hand, low influence of infrastructure. Finally, a roadmap indicates the issues that should be prioritized to improve the quality of life of the Plano Piloto de Brasília, which point out as a priority the capacity of the roads, the proper use, and the number of spaces for loading and unloading.