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Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities

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A special issue of Drones (ISSN 2504-446X). This special issue belongs to the section "Innovative Urban Mobility".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2026) | Viewed by 25270

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Sarah Hubbard

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Guest Editor

School of Aviation and Transportation Technology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
Interests: safety; operations; multimodal planning in aviation and transportation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Damon Lercel

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Guest Editor

Purdue University School of Aviation and Transportation Technology, Purdue University Polytechnic Institute, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
Interests: autonomous aviation; UTM, safety; aviation maintenance

Dr. Cheng Wang

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Guest Editor

Department of Aviation, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN 56001, USA
Interests: drone sighting; UAS integration; aviation safety; runway incursion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is a dynamic field that has grown in interest due to advances in aircraft technologies and automation. This Special Issue will examine the many ways that autonomous aerial vehicles (AAV) can contribute to smarter cities, as well as explore potential solutions to the operational, technical, planning, and safety challenges. UAM may fulfill many functions in the smart city of the future by providing an alternative mode of transportation to congested roadways, enabled by next-generation VTOL technologies powered by clean renewable energy sources, reducing local emissions and noise. These VTOL technologies offer the potential to improve the mobility of people and cargo and may be especially useful for last-mile delivery, emergency response, and critical medical transport. Additionally, AAVs support a diverse number of technological sensor solutions, which enable real-time data collection to improve infrastructure monitoring, maintenance, and transportation efficiencies. Other opportunities may include AAVs as airborne communication nodes that may improve data connectivity, weather forecasting, and natural disaster response. Given the numerous applications and benefits, AAVs will play an important role in the smart cities of the future, redefining current business models, creating new business opportunities, and improving the lives of the public.

This special issue aims to highlight and discuss the critical issues, solutions, and opportunities related to the use of UAM and AAV technologies in the Smart Cities of the future. This aligns closely with the journal's scope of Drones, which focuses on the design and application of drones, including UAS, UAVs, and RPAS, for various use cases. Submissions should focus primarily on drones—whether aerial (such as unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs) or terrestrial (including unmanned ground vehicles or UGVs)—and their application in urban mobility. Manuscripts that broadly address urban air mobility (UAM) concepts without a significant focus on drones will not align with the section's scope.

Economic analysis, opportunities and benefits of UAV and UAM
Environmental benefits of UAV and UAM
Urban policies to support UAM and UAV in urban areas
Examples and operational models of UAM and UAV including emergency services, last-mile delivery, and routine transport of people and cargo
Technical papers addressing operational issues, safety issues, infrastructure issues
Workforce implications and training needs of UAV and UAM in smart cities

Dr. Sarah Hubbard
Dr. Damon Lercel
Dr. Cheng Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Drones is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

UAM
UAV
smart cities
infrastructure
safety
funding
public policy
urban planning
emergency response
workforce

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Published Papers (13 papers)

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Research

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36 pages, 9532 KB

Open AccessArticle

Methods for GIS-Driven Airspace Management: Integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs), Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), and Crewed Aircraft in the NAS

by Ryan P. Case and Joseph P. Hupy

Drones 2026, 10(2), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10020082 - 24 Jan 2026

Viewed by 1376

Abstract

The rapid growth of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) presents significant integration and safety challenges for the National Airspace System (NAS), often relying on disconnected Air Traffic Management (ATM) and Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) practices that contribute to airspace incidents. This study evaluates Geographic Information Systems (GISs) as a unified, data-driven framework to enhance shared airspace safety and efficiency. A comprehensive, multi-phase methodology was developed using GIS (specifically Esri ArcGIS Pro) to integrate heterogeneous aviation data, including FAA aeronautical data, Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) for crewed aircraft, and UAS Flight Records, necessitating detailed spatial–temporal data preprocessing for harmonization. The effectiveness of this GIS-based approach was demonstrated through a case study analyzing a critical interaction between a University UAS (Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) M300) and a crewed Piper PA-28-181 near Purdue University Airport (KLAF). The resulting two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) models successfully enabled the visualization, quantitative measurement, and analysis of aircraft trajectories, confirming a minimum separation of approximately 459 feet laterally and 339 feet vertically. The findings confirm that a GIS offers a centralized, scalable platform for collating, analyzing, modeling, and visualizing air traffic operations, directly addressing ATM/UTM integration deficiencies. This GIS framework, especially when combined with advancements in sensor technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for anomaly detection, is critical for modernizing NAS oversight, improving situational awareness, and establishing a foundation for real-time risk prediction and dynamic airspace management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities)

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27 pages, 29558 KB

Open AccessArticle

A Bigraph-Based Digital Twin for Multi-UAV Landing Management

by Tianxiong Zhang, Dominik Grzelak, Martin Lindner, Hartmut Fricke and Uwe Aßmann

Drones 2026, 10(1), 12; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10010012 - 26 Dec 2025

Viewed by 953

Abstract

Applications of Innovative Air Mobility (IAM) place high demands on the safe coordination of multiple UAVs and UAV-tailored takeoff and landing pads to mitigate unforeseen adverse effects. However, existing modeling approaches for multi-UAV flight operation often provide neither formal correctness guarantees nor effective mechanisms for maintaining cyber–physical consistency. To address these limitations, this paper proposes a bigraph-based digital twin framework that unifies modeling, execution, and synchronization for the management of landing operations involving multiple UAVs. Leveraging Bigraphical Reactive Systems (BRS), the framework employs a bigrid-based spatial model to formally represent UAV–pad occupancy constraints and to enforce one-to-one pad assignments via reaction rules, supporting formal proofs of safety properties. The model is linked to physical execution through modular APIs and a state-machine-based control service, enabling runtime cyber–physical synchronization. The formal specification is verified through model checking, which exhaustively explores the solution space (i.e., UAV behaviors in abstracted environments) to identify bigraph-algebraic solutions that guarantee conflict-free landings across different pad configurations. The framework is instantiated on the Crazyflie platform, demonstrating its ability to bridge formal modeling and physical execution while maintaining safety, scalability, and robustness in operational scenarios involving multiple UAVs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities)

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28 pages, 15281 KB

Open AccessArticle

Development and Validation of a Custom Stochastic Microscale Wind Model for Urban Air Mobility Applications

by D S Nithya, Francesca Monteleone, Giuseppe Quaranta, Man Liang and Vincenzo Muscarello

Drones 2025, 9(12), 863; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones9120863 - 15 Dec 2025

Viewed by 953

Abstract

Urban air mobility operations, such as flying Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and small passenger aircraft in and around cities, will be inherently susceptible to the turbulent wind conditions in urban environments. Therefore, understanding UAM aircraft performance under microscale wind disturbances is critical. Gaining such insight is non-trivial due to the lack of sufficient UAM aircraft operational data and the complexities involved in flight testing UAM aircraft. A viable solution to overcome this hindrance is through simulation-based flight testing, data collection, and performance assessment. To support this effort, the present paper establishes a custom Stochastic microscale Wind Model (SWM) capable of efficiently generating high-resolution, spatio-temporally varying urban wind fields. The SWM is validated against wind tunnel test data, and subsequently, the findings are employed to guide targeted refinements of urban wake simulation. Furthermore, to incorporate realistic atmospheric conditions and demonstrate the ability to generate location-specific wind fields, the SWM is coupled with the mesoscale Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. This integrated approach is demonstrated through a case study focused on a potential vertiport site in Milan, Italy, illustrating its utility for assessing operational area-specific UAM aircraft performance and vertiport emplacement. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities)

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33 pages, 6440 KB

Open AccessArticle

Resilient Last-Mile Logistics in Smart Cities Through Multi-Visit and Time-Dependent Drone–Truck Collaboration

by Qinxin Xiao and Jiaojiao Gao

Drones 2025, 9(11), 782; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones9110782 - 10 Nov 2025

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1834

Abstract

Urban logistics in smart cities are increasingly challenged by congestion, sustainability pressures, and the growing demand for resilient delivery systems. To address these challenges, this study introduces the Multi-Visit Time-Dependent Truck–Drone Routing Problem with simultaneous Pickup and Delivery (MTTRP-PD), a novel framework that integrates three realistic features: (i) drones serving multiple customers per sortie, (ii) time-dependent truck speeds reflecting dynamic traffic conditions, and (iii) synchronized pickup and delivery between trucks and drones. By incorporating these elements, the proposed model provides a more realistic and comprehensive representation of urban air-ground collaborative logistics in the last mile. An optimization framework and an efficient solution approach are developed and validated through computational experiments. The results demonstrate that enabling multi-visit sortie and simultaneous pickup–delivery operations can significantly reduce logistics costs compared with conventional single-visit or delivery-only strategies. Sensitivity analyses further reveal the critical influence of dynamic traffic conditions on fleet configuration and operational decision making. The findings offer actionable insights for logistics operators and policymakers, illustrating how coordinated UAV–truck collaboration can enhance efficiency, resilience, and environmental sustainability in next-generation urban logistics systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities)

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15 pages, 800 KB

Open AccessArticle

A Flight Route Design Method Considering Multi-Hop Communication Using Delivery UAVs

by Hayato Soya, Kazuki Inagaki and Hideya So

Drones 2025, 9(11), 751; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones9110751 - 29 Oct 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 963

Abstract

In recent years, the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has been widely investigated, with particular attention to their potential applications within smart city initiatives. In urban areas, UAV-based delivery services are expected to help address the shortage of truck drivers while also contributing to the promotion of carbon neutrality. Furthermore, the use of multiple UAVs as a communication platform through multi-hop UAV relaying has been studied. UAV-based communication platforms are gaining attention as cost-effective solutions in regions where deploying terrestrial base stations is challenging, such as mountainous areas and remote islands, as well as in emergency situations like natural disasters. Among UAV-based communication platforms, multi-hop UAV relaying is attracting attention as an effective means. However, when employing multi-hop UAV relaying, challenges arise in scenarios where the distance between the source and destination is large, including increased costs due to the need for a larger number of UAVs and reduced throughput caused by the increase in hop count. To address these issues, this paper proposes a flight path design for UAVs in a multi-hop communication system utilizing delivery UAVs, aiming to improve throughput between destinations. The proposed method targets communication between a source and multiple destinations by strategically placing relay points (Way Points: WPs) along the flight paths. By routing UAVs through WPs, new communication links are established, enabling the direct construction of networks between destinations. This approach reduces the number of hops and ensures stable communication at a constant speed. For WP placement algorithms, we propose two methods: a centroid-based method and a shortest-communication-distance-based method. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach enhances throughput. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities)

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21 pages, 816 KB

Open AccessArticle

Urban Dimension of U-Space: Local Planning Considerations for Drone Integration

by Tobias Biehle

Drones 2025, 9(11), 744; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones9110744 - 25 Oct 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1945

Abstract

U-Space, the European Union’s legal framework for enabling drone traffic in low altitude, has implications extending beyond airspace management, particularly on the sustainable development of urban areas. This article presents a case study involving regional and local level representatives, examining anticipated concerns and strategic interests, as well as managing requirements in urban U-Space planning. Following a three-stage capacity building process conducted in the German federal state of Hamburg, the results specify ambitions for enhancing economic attractiveness coupled with locally embedded visions for improved public service provision. Instruments that have shown apposite in the given setting to address concerns surrounding public order and security, as well as the impairment of area functions, are presented. The challenges of implementing U-Space in alignment with societal expectations are outlined. Based on the discussion of these findings, recommendations for local-level capacity-building policy and the multi-level governance of U-Space are derived. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities)

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23 pages, 3072 KB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Unmanned Aircraft for Emergency Deliveries Between Hospitals in Madrid: Estimating Time Savings and Predictability

by Emir Ganić, Cristina Barrado, Tatjana Krstić Simić, Jovana Kuljanin and Miguel Baena

Drones 2025, 9(11), 728; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones9110728 - 22 Oct 2025

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3060

Abstract

Unmanned aircraft are increasingly recognized for their potential to enhance healthcare logistics, offering rapid and reliable transport solutions. Among the many envisioned use cases, emergency medical deliveries stand out as particularly promising due to their immediate societal value. This study investigates the potential of drones operating under U-space to support hospital-to-hospital emergency deliveries in Madrid. Using the GEMMA tool, we modeled and simulated operations with two drone types along direct routes between four hospitals, resulting in six hospital pairs. Drone travel times were estimated and compared against road transport times obtained from the Google Routes API, incorporating one week of traffic data to capture daily and weekend variability. The results show substantial advantages of aerial transport, with time savings ranging from 2 to 26 min, equivalent to 35–58% compared to road transport. Drones consistently ensured deliveries within 15 min, outperforming regular cars (39%) and ambulances or motorcycles in highly congested periods. Sensitivity analysis confirms their reliability in scenarios with strict time constraints, especially under 15 min. These findings demonstrate that drones reduce travel times and improve predictability, providing a robust evidence base for policymakers and regulators to advance U-space integration in healthcare logistics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities)

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20 pages, 25581 KB

Open AccessArticle

Phase Synchronisation for Tonal Noise Reduction in a Multi-Rotor UAV

by Burak Buda Turhan, Djamel Rezgui and Mahdi Azarpeyvand

Drones 2025, 9(8), 544; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones9080544 - 1 Aug 2025

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3287

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effects of phase synchronisation on tonal noise reduction in a multi-rotor UAV using an electronic phase-locking system. Experiments at the University of Bristol explored the impact of relative phase angle, propeller spacing, and blade geometry on acoustic performance, including psychoacoustic annoyance. Results show that increasing the phase angle consistently reduces the sound pressure level (SPL) due to destructive interference. For the two-bladed configuration, the highest noise reduction occurred at relative phase angle

Δ ψ = 90^{\circ}

, with a 19 dB decrease at the first blade-passing frequency (BPF). Propeller spacing had minimal impact when phase synchronisation was applied. The pitch-to-diameter (

P / D

) ratio also influenced results: for

P / D = 0.55

, reductions ranged from 13–18 dB; and for

P / D = 1.0

, reductions ranged from 10–20 dB. Maximum psychoacoustic annoyance was observed when propellers were in phase (

Δ ψ = 0^{\circ}

), while annoyance decreased with increasing phase angle, confirming the effectiveness of phase control for noise mitigation. For the five-bladed configuration, the highest reduction of 15 dB occurred at

Δ ψ = 36^{\circ}

, with annoyance levels also decreasing with phase offset. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities)

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16 pages, 3775 KB

Open AccessArticle

Optimizing Energy Efficiency in Last-Mile Delivery: A Collaborative Approach with Public Transportation System and Drones

by Pierre Romet, Charbel Hage, El-Hassane Aglzim, Tonino Sophy and Franck Gechter

Drones 2025, 9(8), 513; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones9080513 - 22 Jul 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1963

Abstract

Accurately estimating the energy consumption of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in real-world delivery scenarios remains a critical challenge, particularly when UAVs operate in complex urban environments and are coupled with public transportation systems. Most existing models rely on oversimplified assumptions or static mission profiles, limiting their applicability to realistic, scalable drone-based logistics. In this paper, we propose a physically-grounded and scenario-aware energy sizing methodology for UAVs operating as part of a last-mile delivery system integrated with a city’s bus network. The model incorporates detailed physical dynamics—including lift, drag, thrust, and payload variations—and considers real-time mission constraints such as delivery execution windows and infrastructure interactions. To enhance the realism of the energy estimation, we integrate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations that quantify the impact of surrounding structures and moving buses on UAV thrust efficiency. Four mission scenarios of increasing complexity are defined to evaluate the effects of delivery delays, obstacle-induced aerodynamic perturbations, and early return strategies on energy consumption. The methodology is applied to a real-world transport network in Belfort, France, using a graph-based digital twin. Results show that environmental and operational constraints can lead to up to 16% additional energy consumption compared to idealized mission models. The proposed framework provides a robust foundation for UAV battery sizing, mission planning, and sustainable integration of aerial delivery into multimodal urban transport systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities)

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27 pages, 7066 KB

Open AccessArticle

A Deep Learning-Based Trajectory and Collision Prediction Framework for Safe Urban Air Mobility

by Junghoon Kim, Hyewon Yoon, Seungwon Yoon, Yongmin Kwon and Kyuchul Lee

Drones 2025, 9(7), 460; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones9070460 - 26 Jun 2025

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3335

Abstract

As urban air mobility moves rapidly toward real-world deployment, accurate vehicle trajectory prediction and early collision risk detection are vital for safe low-altitude operations. This study presents a deep learning framework based on an LSTM–Attention network that captures both short-term flight dynamics and long-range dependencies in trajectory data. The model is trained on fifty-six routes generated from a UAM planned commercialization network, sampled at 0.1 s intervals. To unify spatial dimensions, the model uses Earth-Centered Earth-Fixed (ECEF) coordinates, enabling efficient Euclidean distance calculations. The trajectory prediction component achieves an RMSE of 0.2172, MAE of 0.1668, and MSE of 0.0524. The collision classification module built on the LSTM–Attention prediction backbone delivers an accuracy of 0.9881. Analysis of attention weight distributions reveals which temporal segments most influence model outputs, enhancing interpretability and guiding future refinements. Moreover, this model is embedded within the Short-Term Conflict Alert component of the Safety Nets module in the UAM traffic management system to provide continuous trajectory prediction and collision risk assessment, supporting proactive traffic control. The system exhibits robust generalizability on unseen scenarios and offers a scalable foundation for enhancing operational safety. Validation currently excludes environmental disturbances such as wind, physical obstacles, and real-world flight logs. Future work will incorporate atmospheric variability, sensor and communication uncertainties, and obstacle detection inputs to advance toward a fully integrated traffic management solution with comprehensive situational awareness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities)

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Review

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38 pages, 2547 KB

Open AccessReview

Mid-Air Collision Risk for Urban Air Mobility: A Review

by Jun Li, Rongkun Jiang, Rao Fu, Yan Gao, Yang Liu, Kaiquan Cai and Quan Quan

Drones 2026, 10(3), 211; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10030211 - 17 Mar 2026

Viewed by 1329

Abstract

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) introduces new safety challenges as small unmanned aircrafts begin to operate at high density in complex urban environments. Traditional air traffic management (ATM) systems developed for manned aviation are unable to accommodate the autonomy, mission diversity, and dynamic obstacle conditions typical of low-altitude operations. This review examines recent research on mid-air collision risk and airspace safety modeling for UAM and identifies key challenges in adapting existing safety concepts to small-scale and autonomous flight. The study compares international management frameworks of the United States, Europe, and China. Then analyzes representative airspace structures such as Free, Layered, Zoned, and Pipeline configurations. It further reviews deterministic and probabilistic separation models, geometric and optimization-based avoidance strategies, and structured airspace approaches such as the virtual-tube concept for coordinated swarm navigation. The findings highlight the lack of integrated models that couple human, energy, and communication factors into quantitative risk assessment. The paper concludes by outlining future research needs in uncertainty modeling, digital-twin simulation, and interoperability to support safe and scalable UAM development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities)

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27 pages, 2978 KB

Open AccessReview

Mapping the Integration of Urban Air Mobility into the Built Environment: A Bibliometric Analysis and a Scoping Review

by Ludovica Maria Campagna, Francesco Carlucci, Francesco Fiorito, Erika Rosella Marinelli, Michele Ottomanelli and Mario Marinelli

Drones 2025, 9(10), 692; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones9100692 - 10 Oct 2025

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2452

Abstract

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has the potential to revolutionize urban transportation, largely with the deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones. After an initial stage focused on technology requirements, research is now shifting toward investigating operational requirements, which are unavoidably affected by urban characteristics. This study aims to explore the implementation of UAM services within urban environments by mapping the current scientific landscape from a city-focused perspective. Following a systematic search procedure, a bibliometric analysis was conducted on studies published between 2010 and 2024, examining over 350 articles that address UAM and urban-related topics. Trends in publication volume and scientific impact were analysed, along with influential manuscripts, collaborations, and leading countries in the field. Through a keyword co-occurrence analysis, five main research themes were identified: air traffic management, risk assessment, environmental factors (wind and noise), and vertiport location. These themes were further explored through a scoping review to assess current research and emerging directions. The findings highlight that urban characteristics are not just operational constraints but also fundamental elements that shape UAM strategies, influencing UAV path planning, safety, environmental constraints, and infrastructure design. Future research directions include the development of urban digital twins, comprehensive urban spatial databases, and multi-objective optimization frameworks to support the effective implementation of UAM into cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities)

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Other

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29 pages, 1174 KB

Open AccessSystematic Review

Sustainability of Drone-Based Urban Air Mobility: A Systematic Review of Consensus and Controversies

by Yuchen Guo, Junming Zhao, Mingbo Wu, Xiangguo Peng, Yu Xia and Yankai Yu

Drones 2026, 10(5), 334; https://doi.org/10.3390/drones10050334 - 29 Apr 2026

Viewed by 186

Abstract

Drone-based Urban Air Mobility (UAM) shows immense potential in urban logistics and emergency response; however, evidence regarding its systemic sustainability remains fragmented. In a systematic review using the PRISMA methodology, this study analyzes 301 core articles to construct an evaluation framework spanning environmental, economic, social, and systemic effectiveness dimensions. Given technical similarities, electric Vertical Take-off and Landing (eVTOL) findings are integrated to anticipate operational challenges. Results highlight a clear consensus: drone delivery is time-efficient in high-sensitivity scenarios, though noise, equity, and safety remain critical bottlenecks. Meanwhile, deep controversies persist across some dimensions. Environmental benefits are highly context-dependent, contingent on operating models, battery life cycles, and clean energy proportions from a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) perspective. Economically, a mismatch between high costs and low willingness to pay (WTP) necessitates optimized pricing strategies. Socially, public acceptance is sensitive to the balance between perceived benefits and risks. Furthermore, systemic effectiveness depends on the coupling between vertiports and ground infrastructure. Concluding that sustainable drone-based UAM is a multistakeholder systemic endeavor, we urge future research to prioritize LCA, pricing strategies, public acceptance surveys, and integrated air-ground coordination to resolve controversies and foster sustainable systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Air Mobility Solutions: UAVs for Smarter Cities)

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