Supply chain micro-communities in urban areas

An increase in urban freight transport is inevitable as growing urban populations require more goods, more conveniently. A deeper understanding of the geography and trends of urban freight transport must recognise that it is the aggregate result of a complex web of supply chain interactions. To understand the trends, the behaviour of the underlying supply chains must be understood. Using Global Positioning System (GPS) traces of commercial vehicles and network theory concepts, this paper examines the characteristics of supply chain micro communities in three urban areas in South Africa. The similarity in the structure of these micro-communities across the three, very diverse, areas suggests that the dynamics that drive supply chain interaction are not dependent on local geography. Four prominent archetypes were identified that account for more than half of the micro-communities in each area. Directionality, geographic dispersion and the balance of importance in the micro-communities are studied in the context of these archetypes. This paper presents a first puzzle piece in deducing urban freight transport patterns from supply chain interaction. Furthermore the results are an empirical benchmark that can validate theoretic models of urban supply chain interaction.