Over the past few years, civil applications of Drones or UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) technologies have been transitioning from purely industrial applications to commercial ones and their impact on transport operations can no longer be ignored. The concept of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has been coined to describe a new type of air traffic at very low altitude over populated areas. Despite the readiness of the technology, the multidisciplinary employee teams of Local Authorities are not prepared for its integration in transport plans. There are no Training Programs for employees of Local Authorities to cultivate the required knowledge and skills to manage UAM, especially from the position of authorizing, implementing and controlling UAM operations. Previous experience of Local Authorities with innovative transport services has indicated that early engagement and training of employees constitutes a key factor for the efficient integration of new technologies in transport systems.

 

UAMschool4cities addresses in a timely manner this need and opportunity, aiming at the creation of a Training Programme for Local Authority employees to get familiar with the UAM concept and acquire necessary skills to deal with the uptake of UAM services following the recent approval of the U-Space (urban airspace) by the European Commission (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/664; effective from 26 January 2023) that allows the provision of drone services in urban environments. In order to foster employability, socio-educational and personal development, our curriculum will also be suitable for young Professionals not yet familiar with UAM. In particular, UAMschool4cities aims to create a MOOC program for building the capacity of future employees of any background interested in entering the Public Administration sector to enable them to:

 

(1) familiarize with UAM concepts and key technologies
(2) keep up with relevant UAM regulatory frameworks while determining the challenges and for Local Authorities
(3) include UAM in their urban development agendas and
(4) start developing responsible and socially acceptable UAM services for the benefit of their citizens.