Advanced Air Mobility Partnership

Major cities are preparing for a future where people can get around using Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), an emerging mode of transportation.

The Advanced Air Mobility partnership is a collaboration between the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT), and Urban Movement Labs. Through this partnership, we look forward to having engaging conversations with residents across the city to ensure community voices are shaping our plans for the future.

Companies are building aircraft models that are smaller, quieter, and more affordable for travel within cities. In December 2020, Mayor Garcetti announced the first-in-the-nation Urban Air Mobility partnership to develop the policies and guidelines that would prepare Los Angeles for a future where new and innovative transportation solutions are available to the public, and used to improve mobility options overall.

Our Advanced Air Mobility partnership will be focused on the following outcomes: 

  1. Public engagement: We are committed to a community-first approach to ensure that Angelenos are engaged in shaping the future of our transportation network. Download here our report Shaping Urban Air Mobility in Los Angeles through Community Engagement.
  2. Leadership: Los Angeles’ UAM effort will be guided by a fellow dedicated building a vision that ensures that this emerging transportation option is safe and accessible to guarantee that all residents have the mobility resources they need to access opportunities. That is why Los Angeles is taking a leadership role in ensuring that future Advanced Air Mobility options meet the needs of our residents. 
  3. Multimodal integration: The effort will create guidelines for the infrastructure needs expected for new mobility options, such as vertiports, to ensure the safety of residents and the communities they live in. Furthermore, the guidelines will direct how to leverage infrastructure investments to improve and increase access to other mobility options.
  4. UAM policy framework: The yearlong project will result in a policy toolkit that gives Los Angeles the roadmap needed to integrate UAM into the city’s existing transportation network guided by principles of safety, sustainability, equity and accessibility, among others. The goal is to provide a policy model that provides best practices from the city leading transportation innovation. 

Los Angeles’ Advanced Air Mobility partnership embraces the “Principles of the Urban Sky” written by the World Economic Forum and the City of LA. These principles establish a joint commitment to safe, low-noise, and sustainable urban air mobility operations that prioritize equity of access, connections to transit, purpose-driven data sharing, and local workforce development. 

 

Source: World Economic Forum

 

Meet UML’s Advanced Air Mobility Fellow

 

Clint Harper has 21 years of diverse aviation experience with a passion for urban design and community engagement. Most recently, he worked at the Utah Division of Aeronautics, where he led efforts to connect local communities with the airport through economic development opportunities. He has led efforts to create best practices in how to best engage and integrate air mobility, calling on the aviation industry to engage with communities early.  Clint is an Air Force veteran whose experience includes aircraft dispatch, airport operations, airport planning, heliport planning, and uncrewed aerial vehicle operations. After his military career, he pursued his love of cities with a Master of City and Metropolitan Planning degree and a graduate certificate in Urban Design. His expertise includes new aviation-based urban form concepts, such as the aerotropolis and airport urbanism. His primary goal is to use advanced air mobility to increase community benefits such as mobility, and job creation.

Meet the rest of the team here

 

About the Partnership 

The Advanced Air Mobility partnership is a year-long effort to create the vision, policies, and guidelines that will ensure that future air-based urban travel options are safe and meet the needs of Angelenos. The partnership will be led by a fellow who is tasked with creating a policy toolkit that will provide the roadmap for how to integrate low-noise, electric aircraft into Los Angeles’ transportation network – options that could be on the market as early as 2023. Community engagement will be critical in developing a program that meets the needs of all Angelenos. 

The partnership is made possible by support from Supernal, Archer Aviation, Blade, Helinet, Skyroads, Overair, and Volocopter and is housed within Urban Movement Labs. In collaboration with the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office and LADOT, the Urban Air Mobility partnership will create a roadmap focused on safety, accessibility, and equity.  

 

There’s a Spot Here for You

Sign up to get involved and receive regular updates on the Advanced Air Mobility program. Community engagement and feedback will be critical to the success of the initiative.

 

Words to Know

Advanced Air Mobility: A future mode of transportation that uses lighter, quieter, and more affordable aircraft to increase access to air mobility for travel within the city. 

Vertiport: Landing stations that can be located across the city for urban aircraft. 

Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL): The new aircraft under development that will be used for Urban Air Mobility.