The Cities Cluster on E-commerce, Digitalization and Smart Cities offers a space for knowledge sharing and collaboration between cities partners of the Global South on how to promote and strengthen e-commerce and achieve digital transformation to advance sustainable development and build smarter cities.

Cities are ideal locations for e-commerce businesses because, among other things, business owners can most efficiently reach the greatest number of customers and most easily access needed resources for production and marketing, including funding, human capital, and infrastructures. Globally, urban last-mile deliveries will increase by 78% by 2030 (Edwin Lopez, Jannifer McKevitt, 2017), and urban freight delivery growth will expand by 40% by 2050 (Emma Cosgrove, 2020). The implication is that e-commerce transactions are increasingly taking place in urban settings; the future of e-commerce will largely hinge on urban development and shape urban development.

Quality of life and efficiency of urban operation and services and competitiveness can be drastically improved with the use of informational and communication technologies and innovations (ITU, 2021). However, there is no guarantee that citizens across the board will automatically benefit from the rapid diffusion of new technologies. Urban leaders should design, implement, and monitor smart city policies as a tool to improve well-being for all people.