Urban Air Mobility
PAS QuickNotes 91
By Alexsandra Gomez
This PAS QuickNotes was developed in partnership with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and is available free to all.
Urban air mobility (UAM) is an emerging system of transportation comprising aerial vehicles, either crewed or automated, with the capability to maneuver in and across cityscapes and make use of the largely untapped low-altitude air space above urban landscapes. UAM technologies have applications in both passenger and freight transportation, but policy and planning efforts need to keep up with technological advances to avoid unforeseen disruptions.
While it is nearly impossible to prevent future disruptions altogether, communities can still prepare in advance. Local officials and planners will need to understand the disruptive potential of UAM, anticipate the implications of deployment, and enact policies in a timely manner to prepare for local UAM uses and impacts.
This edition of PAS QuickNotes explores how local governments, planners, and policy makers can leverage the value of innovative vehicle technologies like UAM to prepare for the future and transform transportation systems for the public good.
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About the Author
Alexsandra Gomez
Alexsandra Gomez is a policy analyst at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. Her work is primarily in the Safe and Complete Streets program. She formerly worked as a research associate at the American Planning Association, where she supported sponsored and strategic research projects and write for APA publications. She has a background in cultural geography and anthropology and applies these disciplines to planning research and practice. Her research interests include urban political ecology, geographies of power, and equitable community-led development.