Funded by SESAR JU, the ImAFUSA Urban Air Mobility (UAM) project has been recognised with the Best Technical Paper Award at the 16th ITS European Congress in Seville. The winning paper, produced by Future Needs researchers Anna Palaiologk, Eleftheria Georganti and Kyriaki Daskaloudi, is titled Advancing the Sustainable Urban Air Mobility Indicators Framework: Proposing New Non-Core Indicators. The team at Future Needs were supported by key project contributors including Antonio José Torija Martínez of the University of Salford, Sophia Kalakou of BRU-ISCTE, Mirjam Snellen of Delft University of Technology and Milan Rollo of AgentFly Technologies.
Presented during a technical session at the Congress, the paper explores how cities can better prepare for the integration of urban air mobility solutions by proposing new metrics that capture environmental, operational, societal and infrastructure-related impacts. It builds on the previously established sustainable UAM indicators framework and adapts existing urban mobility assessment tools for emerging aerial technologies.
With over 3,000 participants from 71 countries, the 2025 edition of the ITS Congress brought together policymakers, researchers and industry leaders under the theme Clean, Resilient and Connected Mobility. During the award ceremony, Joost Vantomme, CEO of ERTICO – ITS Europe, praised the ImAFUSA paper for its broad applicability:
The ImAFUSA project focuses on assessing the spatial and societal implications of introducing innovative aerial mobility into European urban environments. The proposed non-core indicators in the paper aim to supplement traditional urban mobility metrics and help decision-makers evaluate the readiness and suitability of UAM systems.
For more information