Post-Pandemic Impacts of COVID-19 on urban logistics

COVID-19 challenged the existing trajectory of globalisation based on increased fragmentation of supply chains. COVID-19 altered capitalism’s trajectory in multiple ways. On the one hand, it accelerated the adoption of working from home, resulting in companies introducing a different balance between working in employer premises and home working. On the other hand, COVID-19 accelerated the transition from bricks and mortar retailing to e-commerce with important implications for urban logistics as retailers had to rapidly improvise solutions to alterations in the nature of demand. The chapter explores urban logistics with a focus on pre-COVID trends with much of the analysis exploring vans and local delivery within urban areas. For urban logistics, the challenge is the development of an efficient and flexible system based on minimising costs and air pollutants.