Many cities are recognizing the need to transform their urban freight mobility systems towards more sustainable ones. This transition in urban logistics is pivotal in addressing critical challenges such as air and noise contamination, in contributing effectively to climate change mitigation efforts as well as in tackling problems like double parking and congestion. Therefore, a strategic transition in habits, technologies, delivery concepts and approaches necessitate either their cessation or adaptation. This process can be encapsulated by the term ‘exnovation’, which is defined as the deliberate discontinuation of current infrastructures, technologies, products, and practices, highlighting its critical role in altering the existing framework. Thus, the paper conceptually elaborates on the advancements in transformation and transition studies to analyze the role of urban freight policy for reducing undesirable developments and increasing the certainty of more sustainable last mile delivery approaches. The paper empirically analyses key characteristics of urban freight policy and critically discusses its potential for transforming the urban freight sector, based on a qualitative case study of the City of Berlin, Germany. The findings indicate that selective urban logistics issues are addressed by some exnovation policies, such as phasing-out diesel delivery vehicles, restricting the use of polluting motor vehicles in some parts of the city. However, there is still a lack for a systematic exnovation approach alongside the innovation policies. Furthermore, future urban freight research benefits from adopting more change-oriented sustainability transition approach.