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The purpose of this paper is to extend a routing model so that it may be applied to a real case study of material deliveries involved in a development operation, typical of regular humanitarian logistics, and to explore the impact of variations in available logistic assets.

The introduced model is a conceptual evolution of the study recently presented. It concerns the resource allocation and vehicle routing decisions in the well-known Haitian case. Different scenarios are analyzed and a sensitivity analysis is provided. Constraints related to transportation resources in a complex environment, transportation vehicle capacities, and delivery time restrictions are here considered.

This research shows how the logistic assets characteristics and their availability affect the distribution system performances, in terms of total distribution cost and shortages.

The present work explores the last mile distribution problem by providing a case study to assist decision makers in making effective and efficient distribution across the last mile. The research focusses upon the distribution systems management coupled with material distribution modalities.

Whilst implementation of a broad range of reverse logistics (RL) practices is increasingly the norm within commercial supply chain management, they have had limited impact in the humanitarian logistics (HL) sector. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the challenges and opportunities for the application of RL in a HL context.

Through a broad review of both the academic and practitioner literature, supplemented by informal discussions with senior humanitarian logisticians, the paper summarises the current state of RL within the HL sector before recommending ways in which practices that are increasingly found in a commercial context could be implemented.

The findings indicate that, to date, the use of commercial RL practices is extremely limited within the HL sector, but there are a number of areas where their introduction be possible in the future.

Whilst the reviews of the literature were comprehensive, further and more detailed research into the RL practices (if any) undertaken by aid agencies needs to be undertaken in order that appropriate lessons and experiences can be implemented across the sector as a whole.

Given the overall desire of humanitarian agencies to “do no harm” it will be increasingly important for such organisations to embrace RL practices in order to improve the sustainability of their disaster preparation and response activities.

In light of the generally increased awareness of the need to reduce the environmental footprint as well as improving the social and economic impacts of their supply chain activities, there is likely to be increasing pressure on aid agencies to adopt RL practices. This paper identifies some of the potential areas in which this can be undertaken, and the associated barriers to be overcome.

To date, it would appear that no academic research has been undertaken into the RL practices within the HL sector. To this extent, the research represents a first look at a new sub-topic within the overall HL field.

3D printing (3DP), which is technically known as additive manufacturing, is being increasingly used for the development of bespoke products within a broad range of commercial contexts. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential for this technology to be used in support of the preparation and response to a natural disaster or complex emergency and as part of developmental activities, and to offer a number of key insights following a pilot trial based in the East African HQ of a major international non-governmental organisation.

Using an illustrative example from the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) field this paper demonstrates, from both a theoretical and practical standpoint, how 3DP has the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian logistic (HL) operations.

Based on the pilot trial, the paper confirms that the benefits of 3DP in bespoke commercial contexts – including the reduction of supply chain lead times, the use of logistic postponement techniques and the provision of customised solutions to meet unanticipated operational demands – are equally applicable in a humanitarian environment. It also identifies a number of key challenges that will need to be overcome in the operationalisation of 3DP in a development/disaster response context, and proposes a hub-and-spoke model – with the design and testing activities based in the hub supporting field-based production at the spokes – to mitigate these.

In addition to an extensive review of both the HL and additive manufacturing literature, the results of the pilot trial of 3DP in support of humanitarian operations, are reported. The paper recommends further detailed analysis of the underpinning cost model together with further field trials of the recommended organisational construct and testing of the most appropriate materials for a given artefact and environment.

3DP has the potential to improve the response to disasters and development operations through the swift production of items of equipment or replacement spare parts. With low capital and running costs, it offers a way of mitigating delays in the supply chain through on site fabrication to meet an identified requirement more swiftly and effectively than via the traditional re-supply route, and it allows for adaptive design practice as multiple iterations of a product are possible in order to optimise the design based on field testing.

The logistic challenges of responding in a disaster affected or development environment are well documented. Successful embodiment of 3DP as part of the humanitarian logistician’s portfolio of operational techniques has the potential to deliver more efficient and effective outcomes in support of the beneficiaries as well as a sense of empowerment in relation to problem solving. In addition, it has the longer term potential for the creation of a new industry (and, hence, income source) for those living in remote locations.

The research demonstrates that, whilst 3DP is increasingly found in a commercial environment, its use has not previously been trialled in a humanitarian context. The research reported in this paper confirms the potential for 3DP to become a game-changer, especially in locations which are logistically difficulty to support.

Nonviolent civil disobedience is a vital and protected form of political communication in modern constitutional democracies. Reviews the idea of both demonstrating its continued relevance, and providing a basis for considering its uses as an information‐age strategy of radical activism. The novelty of the forms of speech and action possible in cyberspace make it difficult to compare these new methods of expression easily. Whether in cyberspace or the real world, civil disobedience has historically specific connotations that should be sustained because the concept has special relevance to the political theory and practice of constitutional democracy. Civil disobedience is a unique means of political expression that is used to provoke democratic deliberation about important questions of just law and policy. Among the significant problems that new forms of radical political practice in cyberspace introduce is that their practitioners and advocates neglect the need to distinguish between violence and nonviolence. Examines that problem and others that are central to considering theoretical and political implications of radical activism in general, and civil disobedience in particular, in cyberspace.