Towards Integrated Solutions: A Comparative Study of Urban–Rural Last-Mile Delivery Disparities and Optimization Paths

Abstract

The “last-mile delivery” problem, the most costly and challenging segment of the logistics chain, exhibits significant disparities between urban and rural areas, hindering balanced development and elevating social logistics costs. This study employs bibliometrics, comparative research, and case analysis methods to conduct a systematic comparative analysis of urban and rural last-mile delivery systems, integrating multi-source data from both domestic and international contexts. The results highlight a fundamental urban-rural dichotomy: urban pain points stem from resource imbalance and terminal congestion, whereas rural challenges are rooted in infrastructural deficits and the ‘difficult and costly delivery’ dilemma. Furthermore, common constraints across both contexts are identified, including inadequate technology adaptability and a deficiency in cross-subject collaboration. To address these differentiated and common challenges, this paper proposes a dual-path solution: ‘differentiated optimization’ for urban and rural specificities, coupled with ‘global collaboration’ to tackle systemic bottlenecks. This helps both rural renewal and city living. In theory, the research builds a new “problem-technology-model-policy” analysis framework. It fills a gap in current studies by bringing these parts together in a systematic way.