About Us

At the Megacities Logistics Lab, we focus on solving real world problems using state of the art techniques that provide ROI to our partners by using data-centric and data-driven solutions to empower complex operational, tactical, and strategic decision making in the urban logistics environment. 

Our Work

At the Megacity Logistics Lab, we address these challenges by bringing together business, logistics, and urban planning perspectives to develop appropriate technologies, infrastructures, and policies for sustainable urban logistics operations.

Our work aims to promote new urban delivery models, from unattended home delivery solutions to smart locker systems, to click & collect services, to drone delivery. We are pushing the limits of existing logistics network designs as future city logistics networks need to support omni-channel retail models, smaller store formats, increased intensity of deliveries, coordinate multiple transshipment points, engage a wider range of vehicle technologies – including electric and autonomous vehicles – and support complex inventory balancing and deployment strategies.

The Challenges of Urban Logistics

Logistics is a quality of life enabler. It provides for the delivery of goods and services to city dwellers and allows them to enjoy and benefit from the urban environment. Yet, urban logistics comes with its fair share of challenges and the emerging urban context has increased network complexity in three main ways.

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Urban growth occuring in Asia and Africa by 2050

Challenge 1: Demand Growth

Humanity is in the midst of the greatest migration of all times, that from rural to urban. The UN expects 70% of world population to live in cities by 2050 and most of the growth is to come from emerging markets and new global economic hot stops. This growth is to lead to business opportunities and potential market openings, but demand growth will put additional stress on current and future transportation networks.

Challenge 2: Evolving Consumer Expectations

The increased penetration of electronics has triggered a boom in the amount of direct shipments from manufacturers and retailers to individual consumers and is leading to the I-want-it-now economy. These direct deliveries exert increased pressure on existing last-mile transportation networks, leading to fragmentation and increased complexity of operations and requiring greater coordination between stakeholders to reach desired service levels (such as 60-minute delivery). 

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e-Commerce growth in 2017

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Supply Chain cost associate with last-mile

Challenge 3: Policy Strictness

Increasingly stringent regulations to curb air and noise pollution are leading cities to reduce road access and parking spaces in favor of active and public transportation infrastructure. These policies disproportionally impact logistics operations that need to balance compliance while providing for their expected growth and increasingly rigorous customer expectations.

Our Team

We are a group of researchers dedicated to solving the challenges of last-mile distribution in an urbanized world.

MATTHIAS WINKENBACH

MATTHIAS WINKENBACH

Director

Dr. Matthias Winkenbach is a Research Scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics and the Director of the MIT Megacity Logistics Lab and the MIT Computational Analytics, Visualization & Education (CAVE) Lab. 

MILENA JANJEVIC

MILENA JANJEVIC

Research Scientist

Milena Janjevic is a Research Scientists at the Megacity Logistics Lab. Milena has extensive experience in modeling and designing supply chain distribution networks.

JUAN CARLOS PIÑA PARDO

JUAN CARLOS PIÑA PARDO

Postdoctoral Researcher

Dr. Juan Carlos Piña Pardo is a Postdoctoral Associate at the MIT Megacity Logistics Lab. His research focuses on developing optimization models for last-mile logistics.

JONAS LEHMANN

JONAS LEHMANN

PhD Candidate | Research Assistant

Jonas Lehmann is a Ph.D. student at CTL through MIT’s Civil and Environmental Engineering department. He is a graduate Research Assistant at CTL’s Megacity Logistics Lab, and his research focuses on quantitative modeling to improve urban and last-mile logistics.

STEVEN PARKS

STEVEN PARKS

PhD Candidate | Research Assistant

Steven is a research assistant in the Megacity Logistics Lab and a PhD student in the Interdepartmental Program in Transportation. His research focuses on employing optimization and data science to make delivery operations in big cities more sustainable.

SAMUEL CHIN

SAMUEL CHIN

PhD Student | Research Assistant

Samuel Chin is a research assistant in the Megacity Logistics Lab and a PhD student in the Interdepartmental Program in Transportation. His research focuses on employing machine learning and reinforcement learning to vehicle routing problems.

AUSTIN SARAGIH

AUSTIN SARAGIH

PhD Student | Research Assistant

Austin Saragih is a Ph.D. student in Transportation and a Graduate Research Assistant at CTL. His research interests include using analytics techniques (predictive, prescriptive, causal, visual) to solve supply chain problems (supply chain design, routing, delivery).

LUC GENDRE

LUC GENDRE

Masters Candidate

Luc Gendre is a master’s student in the Technology and Policy Program at MIT. As a research assistant in the Megacity Logistics Lab, he works on developing visual analytics tools to facilitate supply chain design. 

JOEY NOSZEK

JOEY NOSZEK

PhD Student | Research Assistant

Joey Noszek is a research assistant at the Megacity Logistics Lab who is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Transportation. His research focuses on measuring inefficiencies in vehicle routing.

SARAH SCHAUMANN

SARAH SCHAUMANN

Visiting PhD Candidate | Research Assistant

Sarah Schaumann is a visiting Ph.D. candidate from ETH Zürich at the Megacity Logistics Lab. Her quantitative research focuses on last-mile logistics in the commercial and humanitarian sectors. 

Current Research Collaborators

RITA MARIA DIFRANCESCO

Professor | EADA, Spain

ISABELLE VAN SCHILT

PhD Candidate | TU Delft

HUGO YOSHIZAKI

Professor | USP, Brazil

STEPHAN WAGNER

Professor | ETH Zürich

STEFAN SPINLER

Professor | WHU, Germany

JAN FRANSOO

Professor | Tilburg University

GILBERTO MONTIBELLER

Professor | Loughborough University

Former Students & Researchers 

MATTHIEU CREPY

Former Masters Candidate

JULIE POULETT

Former Masters Candidate

ANDRÉ SNOECK

Former PhD Candidate

MICHELE SIMONI

Former Post-doctoral Associate

FELIX BERGMANN

Former PhD Candidate | ETH Zurich, Switzerland

ALEXANDER HESS

Former PhD Candidate | WHU Germany

ARIANNA SEGHEZZI

Former PhD Candidate | Politecnico Milano, Italy

FARRI GABA

Former Masters Candidate

XAVIER LAVENIR

Former Masters Candidate

MAGGIE WILSON

Former Masters Candidate

DANIEL MERCHAN

Former PhD Candidate

ROEL POST

Former Masters Candidate

MOHAMMAD MOSHREF-JAVADI

Former Post-doctoral Associate

ESTEBAN MASCARINO

Former Masters Candidate