Gårdshubben

My master’s thesis project is an exploration of how a new distributon model could be implemented in a swedish local food chain in order to make local food accessible and attractive to a larger group of people. The interest in local food is increasing rapidly in Sweden. Farmers are turning directly to consumers for increased profit and less pressure from the industry. At the same time consumers are looking to buy food directly from local farmers in an effort to feel secure that the food they consume is high quality and produced using organic farming methods. With the development of the internet and e-commerce a myriad of new initiatives have appeared to facilitate the trade of local food in a way that’s fair for farmers and consumers alike. However the local food chains are still not adapted to work on the big scale it would take to meet the demand from from Swedish city dwellers. The thesis focuses on a user-centered design process, examining the needs and desires of farmers and consumers part of local food chains. Interviews and observations have been conducted of farmers and consumers participating in local food chains. The project has also been approached from a system level why a several areas of design such as product-, service- and business design were touched upon. The identified design opportunity/direction for the development of future local food chains is the adaptation of an emerging distribution model used by supermarket chains called “click & collect”, in order to make more efficient use of resources while keeping the fairness seen in small local food chains. The result is concept exploring how such a distribution model would look like in a local food chain context. Gårdshubben (The farm hub) a service that enables consumers in Swedish cities to pre-order food online directly from local farmers. The food is later delivered by the farmers themselves to refrigerated lockers located in clusters on public places around the city. Consumers are then notified and free to pick it up their convenience

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

Geo-Information Technology and Its Applications

Geo-information technology has been playing an ever more important role in environmental monitoring, land resource quantification and mapping, geo-disaster damage and risk assessment, urban planning and smart city development. This book focuses on the fundamental and applied research in these domains, aiming to promote exchanges and communications, share the research outcomes of scientists worldwide and to put these achievements better social use. This Special Issue collects fourteen high-quality research papers and is expected to provide a useful reference and technical support for graduate students, scientists, civil engineers and experts of governments to valorize scientific research