Complex and diverse supply chains help cities by making them resistant to sudden supply chain shocks, according to a recently published paper from researchers at Pennsylvania State University,

“We found that complexity can be a good thing,” said Alfonso Mejia, the paper’s corresponding author and an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Penn State. “Cities with diverse supply chains — sources from a broad range of domestic and global suppliers — appear to be better protected against shocks, and experience less-intense shortages