A methodology for managing public spaces to increase access to essential goods and services by vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic
Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management
ISSN: 2042-6747
Article publication date: 17 August 2021
Issue publication date: 22 March 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a spatial decision support system (SDSS) to be used by the local authorities of a city in the planning and response phase of a disaster. The SDSS focuses on the management of public spaces as a resource to increase a vulnerable population’s accessibility to essential goods and services. Using a web-based platform, the SDSS would support data-driven decisions, especially for cases such as the COVID-19 pandemic which requires special care in quarantine situations (which imply walking access instead of by other means of transport).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposes a methodology to create a web-SDSS to manage public spaces in the planning and response phase of a disaster to increase the access to essential goods and services. Using a regular polygon grid, a city is partitioned into spatial units that aggregate spatial data from open and proprietary sources. The polygon grid is then used to compute accessibility, vulnerability and population density indicators using spatial analysis. Finally, a facility location problem is formulated and solved to provide decision-makers with an adaptive selection of public spaces given their indicators of choice.
Findings
The design and implementation of the methodology resulted in a granular representation of the city of Lima, Peru, in terms of population density, accessibility and vulnerability. Using these indicators, the SDSS was deployed as a web application that allowed decision-makers to explore different solutions to a facility location model within their districts, as well as visualizing the indicators computed for the hexagons that covered the district’s area. By performing tests with different local authorities, improvements were suggested to support a more general set of decisions and the key indicators to use in the SDSS were determined.
Originality/value
This paper, following the literature gap, is the first of its kind that presents an SDSS focused on increasing access to essential goods and services using public spaces and has had a successful response from local authorities with different backgrounds regarding the integration into their decision-making process.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge CONCYTEC's and FONDECYT's contribution to the development of this paper by providing crucial financial support under grant number E067-2020-02 (with registry number 72354). Bronfman gratefully acknowledges the support by the Research Center for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (CIGIDEN), ANID/FONDAP/15110017.
Citation
Regal Ludowieg, A., Ortega, C., Bronfman, A., Rodriguez Serra, M. and Chong, M. (2022), "A methodology for managing public spaces to increase access to essential goods and services by vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic", Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 157-181. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHLSCM-02-2021-0012
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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