sustainability-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Logistics for Tomorrow: Navigating the Future of Sustainable Distribution

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Transportation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2025) | Viewed by 690

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Public Safety, Government of Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulevara Mira 1, 76100 Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Interests: quantitative economics; multi-criteria decision-making; fuzzy set theory; operational management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleauges,

The Special Issue “Logistics for Tomorrow: Navigating the Future of Sustainable Distribution” explores how to integrate sustainable practices into logistics and distribution, addressing the challenges of defining, quantifying and monitoring sustainability in global supply chains. The research included in this Special Issue encompasses socio-economic and scientific approaches, analysis tools for measuring sustainability and the application of innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence, digitization and electrification. There is a particular focus on laws, policies and regulations that support sustainable practices in logistics, with an emphasis on urbanization and last-mile delivery.

Authors are also offered a platform to present integrated solutions that promote the circular economy and reduce the carbon footprint, taking into account social and economic aspects. The goal is to provide guidance to both business entities and policy makers for shaping the future of sustainable logistics.

Dr. Adis Puška
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable logistics
  • socio-economic approaches
  • sustainability tools
  • legislative policies
  • quantification of sustainability
  • circular economy
  • last-mile delivery
  • digitization
  • electrification
  • sustainable development

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

39 pages, 1281 KB  
Article
Sustainable Metaheuristic-Based Planning of Rural Medium- Voltage Grids: A Comparative Study of Spanning and Steiner Tree Topologies for Cost-Efficient Electrification
by Lina María Riaño-Enciso, Brandon Cortés-Caicedo, Oscar Danilo Montoya, Luis Fernando Grisales-Noreña and Jesús C. Hernández
Sustainability 2025, 17(18), 8145; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17188145 - 10 Sep 2025
Viewed by 363
Abstract
This paper presents a heuristic methodology for the optimal expansion of unbalanced three-phase distribution systems in rural areas, simultaneously addressing feeder routing and conductor sizing to minimize the total annualized cost—defined as the sum of investments in conductors and operational energy losses. The [...] Read more.
This paper presents a heuristic methodology for the optimal expansion of unbalanced three-phase distribution systems in rural areas, simultaneously addressing feeder routing and conductor sizing to minimize the total annualized cost—defined as the sum of investments in conductors and operational energy losses. The planning strategy explores two radial topological models: the Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) and the Steiner Tree (ST). The latter incorporates auxiliary nodes to reduce the total line length. For each topology, an initial conductor sizing is performed based on three-phase power flow calculations using Broyden’s method, capturing the unbalanced nature of the rural networks. These initial solutions are refined via four metaheuristic algorithms—the Chu–Beasley Genetic Algorithm (CBGA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), the Sine–Cosine Algorithm (SCA), and the Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO)—under a master–slave optimization framework. Numerical experiments on 15-, 25- and 50-node rural test systems show that the ST combined with GWO consistently achieves the lowest total costs—reducing expenditures by up to 70.63% compared to MST configurations—and exhibits superior robustness across all performance metrics, including best-, average-, and worst-case solutions, as well as standard deviation. Beyond its technical contributions, the proposed methodology supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by promoting universal energy access (SDG 7), fostering cost-effective rural infrastructure (SDG 9), and contributing to reductions in urban–rural inequalities in electricity access (SDG 10). All simulations were implemented in MATLAB 2024a, demonstrating the practical viability and scalability of the method for planning rural distribution networks under unbalanced load conditions. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop