Air mobility is an inevitable fact in near future to boost transportation. In response to these needs, MVRDV and Airbus have released their research and findings on air mobility for flying vehicles. 

Described as a research collaboration by MVRDV and Airbus, the plans investigate how to integrate air mobility into urban environments. "Thanks to advances in computing, materials, and electric propulsion technology, one of the most enduring symbols of futurism – flying vehicles – may soon become reality," said MVRDV. 

"But in spite of their long presence in the public consciousness, some fundamental questions have not, until now, been addressed: How will these flying vehicles impact our urban environments? How can issues of energy, sound, and safety be approached? What protocols should be established with authorities to guarantee their safe and harmonious integration?." 

Facilitating access to temporary events, Coachella Festival

"More importantly, how could they be leveraged to improve our cities – not only for their users, but for everybody?". 

To answer these questions, MVRDV worked with Airbus, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, ETH Zurich, and Systra to research and plan for the future of Urban Air Mobility (UAM).

Adding value to residual spaces, Sao Paolo

A leader in the field of UAM thanks to their on-demand helicopter service Voom, Airbus Urban Mobility envisions a comprehensive mobility concept. 

Over the course of the last two years, MVRDV supported Airbus in exploring strategic urban development scenarios that leverage UAM as an opportunity to grow cities around the globe into thriving urban regions. 

Integrating into comprehensive urban proposals, Los Angeles

Crucially, the study aimed to avoid any detrimental impacts from this disruptive technology, which can so easily arise when truly revolutionary transport modes are introduced to cities without careful planning for both short-term and long-term scenarios. 

Instead, the research highlights how, when implemented with urban principles in mind, UAM can reconnect territories with minimal impact, and deliver a multi-modal system that is accessible to, and beneficial for, people of all backgrounds.

Enhancing recreational opportunities, Half Moon bay

The key to unlocking this potential lies largely in vertiports, landing hubs that integrate the aerial network with the existing and future ground transportation system. The research findings envisaged vertiports of various types and sizes, just like traditional transport stops, stations, and terminals. 

However, unlike stations for other urban transport options such as trains, metros, or buses, the network does not require any linear infrastructure in between. 

No tracks, tunnels or roads are required, saving energy, natural resources, and land. This allows designers to adapt the vertiports to a variety of different locations, plugging into and enhancing existing urban scenarios with a number of different configurations.

Connecting CBDs and optimizing business mobility, Shenzhen

The vertiports have been designed as catalysts for urban improvement by addressing the question of resources and impact as a foundational step in their integration process. Vertiports are thought of not just as stations, but also as hubs of renewable energy, data, and public amenities, that can scale while remaining sustainable and resilient. 

Air transport incentivizes an ecologically responsible contribution to the local smart grids of energy and data. The research also considered the principles of transit-oriented development, not only by bringing airborne transport links, but also by integrating with other multimodal transport options to serve local surroundings and solve the problem of the “last mile”. 

Optimizing intermodality, San Francisco Airport

In locations that are underdeveloped, vertiports can be designed as opportunity hubs with educational and healthcare facilities, or business incubators, for example, while in areas fractured by infrastructure such as roads or railway tracks, a vertiport can serve as a bridge connecting neighbourhoods.

Promoting accessibility between disconnected areas, Jakarta

"As cities become denser and technologies improve, it becomes increasingly clear that the truly three-dimensional city – one that includes flying vehicles – is surely one of the city models of the future… a city where my mobility is at my balcony!," said Winy Maas, founding partner of MVRDV. 

"But to reach this future will require many small steps. It’s a credit to Airbus that they are thinking about these issues in advance, and doing so in a way that will improve things in the meantime," added Maas. 

Integrating into TOD developments, Shenzhen

On a broader scale, the research investigates the potential of future UAM networks within cities. It recognises that UAM should not seek to replace cities’ existing transport infrastructure, and acknowledges the short-term business case for UAM as a service that connects major transportation hubs such as airports with business centres. However, it also looks towards a more mature stage in the technology’s implementation. 

The research concludes that once UAM is well established with an extensive network of vertiports, it could serve as an interesting contributor to a mobility system of discrete and distributed modes that complement rail or road infrastructure.

Connecting tourism opportunities, Shenzhen

A mature network of vertiports could serve to connect disadvantaged areas of cities and remote areas without the need for expensive infrastructure; could vastly improve emergency response times; and could even allow ‘technological leapfrogging’ in developing countries, providing a transit network that is relatively inexpensive to create in cities that never developed extensive metro or tram systems. Together these benefits can give cities the accessibility that is needed to attract new economic opportunities.

Creating multimodal R_D hubs, San Francisco

Communicating this nuanced vision for a connected future to the public requires an approach that spans multiple forms of media. In order to create a tangible vision of what such a future might look like, MVRDV and Airbus developed a number of scenarios based on cities around the world that show how vertiports could be integrated into a variety of urban scenarios. 

Envisioning future transport hubs, Shenzhen

The research findings were also translated into an immersive exhibition titled "The City and the Sky Above", created through a collaboration between MVRDV, Airbus, and Squint/Opera that is currently on display at the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture, with the potential to be shown at other events worldwide. 

Together, these illustrations and media installations give a glimpse into a future world that masters technology for a more responsible, more collaborative, and more accessible society.

Promoting multifunctional infrastructure, Los Angeles

UAM Principles - Mobility opportunities

UAM Spatial opportunities for urban development

UAM Methodology - Understanding diversity on UAM implementation

UAM Networks - Targeting diversity on UAM potentialities

Example of UAM city network

Project facts

Project Name: UAM City Integration

Location: n/a

Year: 2018-2020

Client: Airbus Urban Mobility

Size and Programme: Research

Architect: MVRDV

Founding Partner in charge: Winy Maas

Director: Enno Zuidema

Design Team: Jeroen Zuidgeest, Bertrand Schippan, Kris Schaasberg, Irene Luque Martín, Halina Zarate, Chun Hoi Hui, Laura Huerga, Rocio Calzado, Alexandra Farmazon, Sophia Armpara, Francesco Barone, Boris Maas, Vedran Skansi, Monika Novkovikj, Paul van Herk, Yayun Liu, Leo Stuckardt, Chiara Thomassi, Nika Jazaei, Isabella Suppa

Visualisations: Antonio Luca Coco, Luca Piattelli, Francesco Vitale, Pavlos Ventouris, Kirill Emelianov, Magda Bykowska, Jaroslaw Jeda, Angelo La Delfa

Strategy & Development: Jan Knikker, Bart Dankers, Daan van Gool, Greetje Wieringa

Copyright: MVRDV 2018 – (Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries)

Partners

UAM Team: Systra, Tractebel Engie, ETH Zurich, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, MIT, Upstone

Biennale video production: Squint Opera

Images courtesy of MVRDV

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