I wish cars were banned from most back streets in central London, it's really not necessary to have every small road accessible by car. The only exception is unloading/loading at commercial places but that should only be at certain times.
It's also not at all clear to me that replacing one semi with 20 van-sized vehicles is an improvement.
Are you sure that trade-off of many smaller vehicles rather than one big vehicle makes sense, in terms of pollution and congestion? I'm not as sure as you are, but who knows.
Basically a bike with a long cargo compartment in the front, some have logos for international mail carriers on them.
I have absolutely no idea why this doesn't happen.
In north and east London, it's the canals and rivers that prevent a lot of rat-running. The Lee / Lea river and its reservoirs, all the way to the canals in Islington, down into Limehouse, cut out most alternative east-west routes - you need to cross those waterways by bridges, and only the bigger roads have bridges. And there are east-west canals too, that reduce the options north-south on the east side of the city.
They have a permit system. Owners can drive their cars to their homes, but are limited to 15 min of parking.
They are basically pedestrian malls now.
Cities that get this right have good adaptations for disabled travellers - generally by permitting them as exceptional traffic (and not through traffic).
Plus, for example, door-to-door bike lanes are also good for powerchairs. You will see a lot more wheelchair users getting about anywhere in the Netherlands than you do anywhere in the UK.
For example in soho Frith street could be fully pedestrianised, while the neighbouring greek street only accessible to taxis