MUSE Final Event: Advancing Social & Environmental Impact Assessment for Urban Air Mobility

On 4 November 2025, the MUSE SESAR Project held its Final Event at Fira Barcelona, bringing together experts from research, industry, aviation, and public authorities to explore how assessing social and environmental impacts can support responsible Urban Air Mobility (UAM) development. The afternoon session attracted strong participation, demonstrating the growing interest in ensuring that UAM evolves in a safe, sustainable, and socially accepted way.

Opening and Context

The event opened with welcoming remarks from POLIS Network, followed by a presentation of the MUSE Project Officer from the SESAR Joint Undertaking on how MUSE fits into the broader SESAR funding programme and contributes to the European vision for future aviation.

Nommon, the project coordinator, then introduced the MUSE project, its objectives, and its role in developing tools that make UAM deployment more informed, transparent, and impact-driven.

Presentation of MUSE Results

From 14:30 to 15:45, the project partners presented the core outcomes of MUSE, focusing on the project’s methodologies, tools, and demonstration activities:

• U-space Environmental & Social Performance Framework (FTTE) – A structured approach including over 40 indicators to evaluate UAM impacts across noise, visual pollution, equity, privacy, and wildlife, as well as cross-cutting areas enabling targeted assessment by gender, age categories, and other demographical criteria.
• U-space Performance Assessment Toolset (Nommon) – A suite of tools supporting quantitative evaluation of environmental and social indicators, including drone trajectory generation, noise modelling, population mapping, and more features.
• Demonstration of the results (Nommon & UPC) – Showcasing how the MUSE framework and tools work in practice, including sample assessments and real-world application scenarios over the virtual city of Madrid.

The detailed presentations were followed by an engaging Q&A session, where participants explored the usability, scalability, and policy relevance of the MUSE tools.

Panel Discussion: Social & Environmental Needs for UAM

After a short break, the event shifted to a lively panel discussion moderated by Prof. Cristina Barrado (UPC Barcelona-Tech).
The session “Social & Environmental Challenges & Needs Related to Urban Air Mobility Operations” brought together experts representing research, service providers, industry, and air navigation:

• Tobias Biehle, TU Berlin Luftlabor
• Kadri Bussov, Tartu Science Park
• Zoltán Bazsó, EUROCONTROL
• Christian Scheel Struwe, Altitude Angel
• Pablo Sánchez Escalonilla, CRIDA (Spanish ANSP research branch)

The debate centred on ensuring that UAM innovation is grounded in real societal needs, focusing on:

• How to design UAM services that benefit communities and not only early adopters
• The importance of robust impact measurement frameworks for public acceptance
• Challenges related to noise, privacy, and low-altitude traffic integration
• The role of data sharing, governance models, and U-space service harmonisation
• Environmental considerations and the need for transparent reporting to build trust

The panellists also reflected on the value of projects like MUSE in guiding cities, civil aviation authorities, and industry stakeholders toward evidence-based decision-making.

White Paper Presentation

The session continued with the introduction of the MUSE White Paper, “Measuring U-Space Social and Environmental Impact: Lessons Learnt from MUSE and Way Forward.”
Presented by POLIS, the document summarises the project’s findings and outlines policy and operational recommendations for integrating UAM safely and sustainably into European airspace and urban environments. It will be finalised by end November 2025 and published upon approval by the SESAR JU.

A Strong Close to the MUSE Project

The event concluded with final remarks highlighting the project’s contribution to shaping responsible UAM development. By providing a comprehensive impact assessment framework and practical evaluation tools, MUSE empowers stakeholders to better understand how UAM can align with environmental goals, community expectations, and long-term mobility strategies.

The excellent turnout and active participation underscored the relevance of MUSE’s work as Europe prepares for the next steps in U-space implementation.

Are you interested in immersing yourself in the event? Find the presentations and recording here: