CITYAM - Preparing cities for sustainable Urban Air Mobility
CITYAM

Six cities lead the way in increasing drone usage responsibly

10 May 2023
Helsinki, Stockholm, Hamburg, Tartu, Gdańsk, and Riga are serving as trailblazers in facilitating the development of urban air mobility development with a new, EU-funded project.
Technical details

Six countries aim to develop their urban air mobility ecosystem over the coming years. With a brand new EU-funded project, CITYAM, they are seeking new and innovative ways to incorporate drone flights and air mobility vehicles into infrastructure and everyday life. Within the project, the focus is finding responsible and sustainable ways to integrate new air mobility technologies into traditional urban mobility systems.

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is a rapidly growing field of disruptive innovation that is also set to have a transformative effect on cities and city planning. Currently, the cities are on the threshold of this new form of mobility, which will have a big impact on both urban areas and residents’ lives.

This is why the CITYAM project is investing in increasing urban air mobility in a responsible and acceptable way.

”Enhancing public officials’ knowledge on the topic, as well as measuring public acceptance, are key elements of CITYAM. We only want to bring more drones to cities if it really benefits society and can be done responsibly and sustainably,” says CITYAM Project Coordinator Renske Martijnse-Hartikka.

New landing sites and regulation guidelines

While traditional traffic infrastructure is already pushed to its limits, drones could provide an answer to multiple problems, such as the lack of space in cities, the need for cost savings, or accessibility to hard-to-reach locations, if given the chance. That is why cities urgently need a vision, a strategy and policies, greater awareness and more knowledge, capabilities and tools.

The CITYAM project helps not only the partnering cities but also other places to adapt and to be ready to make the most new means of transport and mobility.

“Replication is important in CITYAM. We are focusing on scalable outputs, as we want to provide solutions that can be used across the entire Baltic Sea Region,” Martijnse-Hartikka says.

Over the next three years, CITYAM will provide the elements and tools needed for a solid urban air mobility strategy, to adapt city planning practices in relation to landing sites and airspace management, and to scale city-relevant drone operations as part of a transport system.

The CITYAM project is coordinated by Forum Virium Helsinki. Longer-term drone operations, as well as new landing site infrastructure work, will take place in Helsinki, Stockholm, and Hamburg. Tartu, Riga, and Gdańsk will then replicate the solutions.

CITYAM is helping to build a green and resilient region with EU funds from the Interreg Baltic Sea Region (2021-2027).