ABSTRACT
Cities have been built on the benefits of density, proximity, and connectivity. However, the recent COVID-19 pandemic, along with continuously evolving communication technologies, has seen an increase in vacancies and underuse of urban buildings, challenging the agglomeration benefits of cities and our understanding of business-as-usual. By reflecting on these continuous changes in our urban environment, we can better understand the dynamics in play, the various user needs, the temporary or permanent nature of these changes, and possible adaptive strategies to navigate our future toward a more sustainable and resilient state. This article, therefore, presents a systematic literature review, using PRISMA, to examine and map how vacancy intersects with adaptive reuse literature. This review examined 43 academic articles and revealed research predominately focusing on whole-building adaptive reuse of completely vacant buildings. This review highlighted that vacancy is mainly assumed in research, and both vacancy and adaptive reuse are insufficiently unpacked. A new adaptive reuse framework is proposed to address the misalignment between the realities of how a vacancy is distributed in building stocks and the focus on whole-building adaptive reuse. The framework is set to inform urban policy development supporting sustainable reuse. This article presents a point of departure to understand how adaptive planning approaches could be applied to enhance broader sustainability and resilience initiatives.
ABSTRACT
The potential impact of e-commerce on freight movements in cities is an important consideration for freight operators and policy makers, however little research focuses on the impact of e-commerce freight movements in urban areas, especially in the South African context. With the growth of e-commerce and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to investigate methods to improve last-mile delivery planning for e-commerce deliveries in urban areas. The paper therefore focuses on evaluating the potential impacts of different e-commerce delivery methods (home delivery, collection points, and click-and-collect) on ecommerce freight movements and carrier cost. Results provide a good starting point to understand the potential impacts of delivery decisions and omni-channel design on delivery cost. Results from this analysis can be used by planners, decision-makers, and delivery service providers to glean some useful insights for improved planning of ecommerce operations and offerings. © 2022 IEEE.