Increasing Access to Food: A Comprehensive Report on Food Supply Options

Access to food is one of the most important aspects of a healthy, sustainable community. Grocery stores and other suppliers can serve as an economic anchor to provide social benefits to communities. Unfortunately, many communities do not have convenient and/or affordable access to grocery items, particularly fresh produce. As part of Virginia Commonwealth University\u27s Fall 2019 graduate course on Urban Commercial Revitalization, class members researched 13 retail and other food access options, which are described in this report. Each chapter covers a food access option and provides basic information that will be useful to individuals, organizations, or government agencies that wish to attract and/or develop grocery operations in their communities

No. 07: The Urban Food System of Mexico City, Mexico

This report provides an overview of Greater Mexico City and its food system. The city’s history, demographic characteristics, geography and economy are first discussed. The city’s urban food system and urban food security are then examined with a particular focus on formal and informal food retail, food expenditure patterns, and policies to combat hunger and food insecurity. Meeting the daily food demands of Mexico City’s over 20 million inhabitants requires the agricultural production of Mexico’s rural areas, its fishing industry and food imports. Food products arrive in the city from around the country in a combination of traditional and highly sophisticated modern systems of food supply and distribution. Structural changes in recent decades have led to modifications in the systems of supply, distribution and food consumption with vertically integrated companies now controlling aspects of the food chain. The system of supply and marketing of food products is also characterized by competition between public markets, large wholesale and retail companies, and neighbourhood convenience stores. While levels of household food insecurity (undernutrition) are lower than in other global cities of the South, Mexico City faces an epidemic of overnutrition, obesity and non-communicable diseases

Contributions to sustainable urban transport : decision support for alternative mobility and logistics concepts

Increasing transport activities in cities are a substantial driver for congestion and pollution, influencing urban populations’ health and quality of life. These effects are consequences of ongoing urbanization in combination with rising individual demand for mobility, goods, and services. With the goal of increased environmental sustainability in urban areas, city authorities and politics aim for reduced traffic and minimized transport emissions. To support more efficient and sustainable urban transport, this cumulative dissertation focuses on alternative transport concepts. For this purpose, scientific methods and models of the interdisciplinary information systems domain combined with elements of operations research, transportation, and logistics are developed and investigated in multiple research contributions. Different transport concepts are examined in terms of optimization and acceptance to provide decision support for relevant stakeholders. In more detail, the overarching topic of urban transport in this dissertation is divided into the complexes urban mobility (part A) in terms of passenger transport and urban logistics (part B) with a focus on the delivery of goods and services. Within part A, approaches to carsharing optimization are presented at various planning levels. Furthermore, the user acceptance of ridepooling is investigated. Part B outlines several optimization models for alternative urban parcel and e-grocery delivery concepts by proposing different network structures and transport vehicles. Conducted surveys on intentional use of urban logistics concepts give valuable hints to providers and decision makers. The introduced approaches with their corresponding results provide target-oriented support to facilitate decision making based on quantitative data. Due to the continuous growth of urban transport, the relevance of decision support in this regard, but also the understanding of the key drivers for people to use certain services will further increase in the future. By providing decision support for urban mobility as well as urban logistics concepts, this dissertation contributes to enhanced economic, social, and environmental sustainability in urban areas

Logistics challenges of e-grocery last-mile delivery: a literature review

In recent years, e-commerce has been growing globally and online markets have undergone a radical transformation during Covid-19 Pandemic. In this context, Food and Grocery sector has expanded exponentially thus leading to a development of last-mile logistics which is the least efficient supply chain activity in terms of economic and environmental impact. At the moment, B2C e-commerce players face multiple challenges due to logistics complexities and efficiency. On the other side, demand complexities rise from Service Level expectations, and consumers’ willingness to pay for logistics services. Food and Grocery e-commerce has three main configurations: the enogastronomic e-commerce, the on-demand food delivery and the e-grocery. Among these, the third one has reported the highest growth during and after the Pandemic. However, beside complexities of e-commerce logistics, the online purchase of grocery products raises new challenges due to product peculiarities, logistics requirements and complexity of orders. The aim of this work is therefore to investigate which are the main problems associated with last-mile delivery for e-grocery and which are the appropriate variables to describe them. In order to achieve this objective, a Systematic Literature Review has been performed to identify key issues addressed by scholars and existing typologies of last- mile delivery problems in this sector. The contribution of this research is threefold: firstly, it analyses the state of the art of last-mile challenges for e- grocery from an academic perspective and proposes a classification. Secondly, the identification of logistics variables associated with identified problems highlights potential threats for E-grocery players. Therefore, this work supports managers to identify challenges in a structured way before planning appropriate countermeasures for the specific context. Thirdly, it identifies opportunities for future research directions

Mobility on Demand in the United States

The growth of shared mobility services and enabling technologies, such as smartphone apps, is contributing to the commodification and aggregation of transportation services. This chapter reviews terms and definitions related to Mobility on Demand (MOD) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS), the mobility marketplace, stakeholders, and enablers. This chapter also reviews the U.S. Department of Transportation’s MOD Sandbox Program, including common opportunities and challenges, partnerships, and case studies for employing on-demand mobility pilots and programs. The chapter concludes with a discussion of vehicle automation and on-demand mobility including pilot projects and the potential transformative impacts of shared automated vehicles on parking, land use, and the built environment

Challenges and Opportunities of Integrating Autonomous Vehicles into Urban Retail Delivery Services

The purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges and opportunities associated with integrating autonomous vehicles into urban retail delivery services. The study found that integrating autonomous vehicles into urban retail delivery services presents both challenges and opportunities. The challenges include safety concerns, regulation, infrastructure, job displacement, and cybersecurity. The development of new regulations and policies to accommodate autonomous vehicles in urban areas may take time and effort. The infrastructure such as charging stations and maintenance facilities will also need to be developed to support autonomous vehicles, which could be costly and time-consuming. Job displacement may also be a concern as the adoption of autonomous vehicles may decrease the number of jobs available for delivery drivers and other workers in the retail sector. Cybersecurity is also an issue as autonomous vehicles rely on software and communication systems that are vulnerable to hacking and cyber attacks. On the other hand, the study found that integrating autonomous vehicles into urban retail delivery services can bring opportunities, such as improved efficiency, reduced emissions, increased accessibility, improved customer experience, and cost savings. Autonomous vehicles can operate 24/7 and optimize delivery routes, reducing the time and cost of deliveries. They can also be electric, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality in urban areas. Autonomous vehicles can operate in areas that are difficult or dangerous for human drivers, enhancing accessibility. Additionally, autonomous vehicles can reduce the cost of delivery services by eliminating the need for human drivers and reducing fuel and maintenance costs

Investigation of transportation innovations for food delivery and truck platoons

Studies find that low-income areas are underserved by food retailers and have less access to healthy food, contributing to health disparities. A section of this thesis examines micromobility, drones, and ridesharing that may be suited to deliver food. Using estimated capacities and delivery speeds of several transportation modes, quantitative analysis showed that micromobility is a feasible means of delivery for short-distance, small-quantity orders. Vehicles were the only suitable option once quantity or distance increases, with trucks being the only option for large deliveries of food. Regarding trucks, autonomous truck platooning has potential benefits such as energy savings, increased capacity, and improved safety. A section of this thesis discusses the novel issue of driver behavior interacting with truck platoons in work zones. This research investigates the effects of education, platoon signage, and the number of platooned trucks using a federated simulator study. The study found that education and the use of signage showed increased driver efficiency near platoons. There was a 13 percent increase in speed and 30 percent decrease in distance following a 2-truck platoon after education. Driver speed also increased by at least 14 percent and following distance increased by at least 24 percent, with signage added. Post-simulator survey results showed drivers strongly agree that education helps to clarify how to react to platoons. 90 percent of drivers admitted it is safer to not overtake the platoon, yet only 62 percent indicated they would follow it. Using the results of this research, transportation agencies could formulate policies better accommodate truck platoons as the technology grows.Includes bibliographical references

AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs

This report is the latest in a sustained effort throughout 2014 by the Pew Research Center's Internet Project to mark the 25th anniversary of the creation of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee (The Web at 25).The report covers experts' views about advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, and their impact on jobs and employment