Social acceptance and citizen participation for Urban Air Mobility
On March 26 and 27, the UIC2 community gathered in Hamburg for a two-day workshop to further promote social acceptance and citizen engagement in Urban Air Mobility (UAM). Hamburg, which has been a model city since UIC2 was founded in 2018, had the honor of hosting the first face-to-face meeting in a UIC2 member city.
UIC2, the Urban-Air-Mobility Initiative Cities Community, is a European platform under the umbrella of the CIVITAS initiative that supports cities and regions in developing sustainable and intelligent mobility solutions with drones and aircraft. The goal is to safely and efficiently integrate urban airspace into existing mobility concepts. This includes not only the technical implementation of drone operations for transport, logistics or rescue services, but also regulatory, social and infrastructural issues.
The first day of the workshop kicked off at the Hamburg Port Authority's (HPA) dronePORT, where participants were able to watch a live test flight at the HPA's drone control center, take a tour of the site, and learn about the latest developments in the field of urban air mobility. A key topic was the Interreg Baltic Sea Region project CITYAM, which is developing tools for cities to increase public acceptance for the integration of drones into urban infrastructure. The focus was on the modular acceptance survey, which was conducted in six partner cities and received more than 4,600 responses. Project partners from Hamburg and Helsinki presented key findings on public perception of drone integration in their cities. In addition, the integration of drones into urban planning processes plays a central role in the CITYAM project - an aspect on which the workshop participants provided valuable feedback that will be incorporated into the development of a UAM roadmap for cities.
The second day opened with an academic impulse from Dr. Svantje Kähler of the Helmut Schmidt University. Her presentation focused on participatory methods to promote acceptance and the importance of early societal involvement in the development of Urban Air Mobility. Participants then took part in a workshop to discuss best practices, challenges and solutions to further increase the acceptance of UAM in different cities.
Another important item on the agenda was the further development of a joint UIC2 document that captures the practical needs, challenges and priorities of cities in the field of UAM. The collected findings will help to identify key issues, address challenges and derive concrete strategies to provide cities with sound guidance for the future development of urban air mobility.
The UIC2 community also used the meeting to define its future governance structure. Robert Weist (Hamburg Aviation) was appointed as the new coordinator, while Pedro Fernandez (Madrid City Council) will take on the role of co-coordinator. Together they will lead the next phase of cooperation within UIC2 and drive the strategic development of the initiative.
The next meeting of the UIC2 community will take place in Helsinki in June and will be co-hosted with the POLIS network. The focus will be on integrating different data sources for UAV operations into the city's digital infrastructure.