Diversity in the evolution of last-mile deliveries: Interactions between e-commerce growth, urban development, planning, and the delivery service market

E-commerce is transforming urban freight systems and creating challenges for last-mile delivery due to fragmented demand, high stop density, and diverse delivery models. This study examines last-mile e-commerce delivery in five cities, primarily focusing on parcel deliveries, and analyzes how the state of practice of last-mile delivery systems is influenced by local contexts, including urban development, planning and policy, and market structures. Case studies of Brussels, Amsterdam, Singapore, Tokyo, and New York illustrate how last-mile delivery processes differ across cities and identify the key contextual factors that explain these variations. A cross-case comparison shows that differences in demand density, the size of urban agglomeration, the built environment, zoning restrictions, building codes, market structure, and zero-emission policies shape the last-mile delivery modes and solutions. Furthermore, several common strategies from a public-sector perspective are observed across cities. These include enhancing market cooperation and coordination, promoting non-home and unattended handovers, establishing regulatory frameworks for non-automobile delivery modes, developing logistics spaces, and exploring intermodal systems that use non-road transportation modes. However, specific implementation approaches remain unique to each local context. Finally, based on these findings, a set of key questions is proposed to help planners and policymakers assess their local contexts, define their vision for last-mile delivery systems, and select appropriate strategies and implementation approaches.