Assessing the Evolution of Urban Planning and Last Mile Delivery in the Era of E-commerce

Abstract

In general, the concept of last mile delivery in logistics and transport refers to the actual goods’ delivery to the receiver, which can take place at a pre defined place (home, work, etc.) or by click & collect. Last mile logistics’ management has gained great importance due to the increasing complexity of supply chains and the highly dynamic nature of today's logistics ecosystem. The rise of e-commerce has exposed the intertemporal weaknesses of last mail delivery and highlighted new ones. Ignoring or underestimating these aspects can compromise a company's competitiveness and survival. The combination of last mile delivery’s true needs with the necessity for less polluted and congested urban areas, leads to the consideration that radical and innovative changes are required. Electric transport vehicles (bicycles, scooters, vans, light and soon enough medium and heavy commercial vehicles) represent an aspect of the natural evolution for logistic systems. An increasingly attentive to environmental impacts, capable of responding to the challenges of increasingly smart, liveable and sustainable cities logistic system, leads to the spread of the logistics concept’s cycle and therefore the usage of environmental friendly vehicles such as bicycles, cargo bikes and scooters to deliver goods, especially in urban centres. This work aims at defining an exemplified methodology for the selection and proper planning by service op erators and local authorities of last-mile logistics modal forms in different urban contexts, promoting the concept of decarbonisation in accordance with the Paris Agreement and the dissemination and drafting of increasingly “performing” sus tainable mobility urban plans.