Urban Logistics Transformation: E-Commerce and Sustainable Circular Economy Approaches

This book explores the most efficient transformation pathways of urban logistics, specifically in the bonds of sustainable e-commerce, focusing on efficient, smart and sustainable urban logistics concepts  while introducing circular economy approaches. With the majority of economic activities and resource overconsumption occurring in rapidly growing urban areas, transportation systems lead to a substantial increase in urban road transport, which accounts for 40 % of all CO2 emissions and up to 70 % of other pollutants. Meanwhile, recent years have shown that transportation and mobility systems became extremely vulnerable to disruptions caused by geo-political instabilities, pandemics (COVID), intensified global trade, and new business models across logistics, particularly e-commerce and associated logistics platforms.

The logistics market associated with e-commerce is projected to grow significantly, making last-mile efficiency a top priority. Green last mile logistics has been a key topic for the transport researchers since last decade. Research and innovation projects have developed, piloted and evaluated various technical solutions and policy measures to address the challenges by increasing efficiency, transition to zero emission vehicles and cargo bikes, facilitate and integrate reverse and forward material/good flows. However, such research results have been presented as project deliverables, not being included within well disseminated literature. While many books focus on e-commerce growth, few address the specific challenges of last-mile logistics, pointing the actual industrial and political strategies to integrate forward and reverse logistics. This book summarizes state-of-the-art of last mile logistics for e-commerce, and bridges the gap in literature by offering practical solutions, case studies, and future trends. Against this background, the book reviews all innovative solutions, best practices and lessons learnt in the urban logistics sector. It also presents various policy tools and discusses challenges in current urban planning strategies. Recommendations in future urban planning and urban space management conclude the book.

Melkonyan-Gottschalk is Professor for Sustainability and Socio-Technical Transformation at Clausthal University of Technology with focus areas in Environmental Economics, Circular Economy, Sustainable Supply Chains and Logistics/Mobility, as well as in Transformation of Urban Regions. Before she took on this professorship, she was Scientific Director of the Center for Logistics and Traffic at the University of Duisburg-Essen, and international consulting expert in the NASA-funded Project on Land-use and Land Cover Changes in South Caucasus, in frames of which she acted at visiting Professor at Oklahoma University. Within the frames of the projects ILoNa "Innovative Logistics for Sustainable Lifestyles", CONUS- "Competence Network of Industrial and Rural Interlinkages", PRIMA-funded ImPULSe "Innovative Citrus By-Products Supply Chain in Mediterranean Area" she and her team carried out sustainability assessments throughout the entire value chain of the modern services for stationary and online commerce, while at the same time considering new business models, like sharing and circular economy, drafting transformation pathways along the entire supply chains. Through the projects on "Economic Assessment of Environmental Impact", funded by NASA; "Climate Mitigation and adaptation strategies" for the cities of Duisburg and Essen, "Essen - Green Capital City of Europe, 2017" as well as Mercator Foundation funded project "NEMO - New Emscher Mobility", Prof. Melkonyan-Gottschalk is working with local governmental authorities, as well as industrial partners to develop collaborative decision support systems for sustainability transition strategies.

Prof. Melkonyan-Gottschalk has completed her habilitation (Venia Legendi) on Climate Change Influences on Economy.  She received her PhD at the University of Duisburg-Essen, on the topic "Statistical Analysis of Long-Term Air Pollution in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany". Her Master Thesis was related to mathematical modeling in Macroeconomy, completed at the Yerevan State University, Armenia. Prof. Dr. Melkonyan-Gottschalk has published more than thirty scientific publications and five monographs.

Dr. Yanying Li received her Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering from the University of Southampton and her Master’s in Geodesy and Survey Engineering from Tsinghua University. She began her career in the design and application of in-vehicle navigation systems, laying the technical foundation for her later work in sustainable mobility. She is recognized for her expertise in innovation, policy, and governance of sustainable urban mobility and city climate action. Her career includes roles as Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, Senior Manager at ERTICO – ITS Europe, Liaison Officer at the Global Covenant of Mayors, and Head of Programme at the Alliance for Logistics Innovation through Collaboration in Europe (ALICE). She led the Urban Logistics Subgroup of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Urban Mobility and was appointed as evaluator for the EU’s 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission. Since 2008, Dr. Li has driven sustainable urban mobility research and innovation through EU programmes including FP6, FP7, Horizon 2020, and Horizon Europe. Her work has addressed active and multimodal transport, traffic safety, zero-emission vehicle deployment, and integrated passenger–freight systems. More recently, she has focused on decarbonising urban logistics in response to the rapid growth of e-commerce and home delivery, shaping solutions that reduce emissions while enabling efficient and sustainable last-mile transport.