School or parking lot? Selecting locations for points of distribution in urban disasters

Abstract

Recent man-made and natural hazards have shown that food supply chains in high-income countries become increasingly vulnerable. Meanwhile, the population reacts very sensitively to even minor shortages. The selection of locations of distribution sites and modes for relief items is a critical part of any public sector response. This is especially challenging in urban areas, where a scarcity of empty buildings leads to the need to spontaneously convert (public) buildings or places into points of distribution. However, determining an efficient distribution strategy in terms of using the right mode at the right place is challenging. While large-scale distribution through public buildings offers a high throughput of beneficiaries, off-site distribution from trucks offers the chance to deliver goods in areas where Points of Distribution utilization is expected to be low. Therefore, we develop an approach to select modes and identify locations for the distribution of goods and apply it to a hypothetical case study in Berlin, Germany. Thereby, we identify that a combination of all modes is most effective. In a city like Berlin, the relevance of individual modes seems to depend primarily on the distance beneficiaries are willing to walk rather than on the magnitude of the disaster. Moreover, we show that the presented approach is particularly valuable in situations where a high level of service for beneficiaries is desired. Therefore, the present study yields several interesting managerial insights into a yet largely unexplored problem, contributing to an increase in resilience towards future crises.