A systems approach to urban distribution is an integrated process aimed at improving performance of urban distribution systems, that involves a number of activities, including defining problems, conducting surveys, setting goals, objectives and criteria, designing alternatives, predicting and evaluating the performance of alternatives, implementing an alternative and reviewing the performance of the system (Figure 1).

Figure 1 A Systems Approach to Urban Distribution

In the following sections, we define each of the 8 actions taken in the systems approach.