News
14/01/2025

POLIS launches two new Taskforces

As the urban mobility landscape keeps evolving, we need to evolve too! POLIS is launching two new Taskforces to address the hot topics of Urban Air Mobility and Urban Nodes. 

POLIS Working Groups provide unparalleled spaces for our membership to exchange ideas, best practices and knowledge. The pivotal work that is done within these Working Groups is a learning process where POLIS acts as a facilitator for horizontal collaboration and provides expert guidance. Our goal is to listen to what is high on the agenda of cities, regions and mobility stakeholders to be able to best support them in navigating the different realms of sustainable urban mobility.

Then, where do the POLIS Taskforces step in? These Taskforces are horizontal topical groups that allow POLIS members—and, when possible, the wider public—to explore a specific aspect or challenge of urban mobility in full depth. What does it mean that these topical groups are horizontal? It means that they feed on the knowledge and expertise of all POLIS Working Groups.

In 2023 we launched our first two Tasforces: the Just Transition Taskforce, co-coordinated by Laura Babío and Alessia Giurgiutti, and the Climate-Neutral Cities Mission Taskforce, led by Marko Stančec. If you are still not familiar with them, you can find out more by scrolling to the bottom of our Working Groups' page.

The number and configuration of our Taskforces reflect the topical priorities identified by our members in the wider EU urban mobility landscape. As such, these groups need to evolve with the emergence of new challenges. With Urban Air Mobility (UAM) innovations taking up more and more space in the mobility debate, and Urban Nodes receiving increasing attention in EU transport policy, we are excited to launch two new dedicated Taskforces under the POLIS umbrella.


Meet our new Taskforces

POLIS Annual Conference 2024, Fotobehrendt

The Urban Air Mobility Taskforce will bring the increasing number of POLIS activities on this momentum-gaining topic under a dedicated group. As a growing number of our members started to explore the potential risks and opportunities of UAM, we felt the need to create an ad hoc space where they could exchange ideas on this emerging innovation. The goal is to build awareness of the potential impacts of UAM, stressing the importance of discerning relevant from irrelevant use cases. The Taskforce—launched at our Annual Conference in Karlsruhe—will feed on input from the MAIA and MUSE projects and be led by Manon Coyne.

Urban nodes are a key component of Europe’s transport strategy and in particular of the TEN-T Regulation, serving as central connection points where different modes of transport—rail, road, air, and maritime—converge. The new POLIS dedicated Taskforce will act as a one-stop shop for members to receive guidance and support regarding all Urban Nodes' related activities. Additionally, it will serve as a point of reference for external partners such as the Urban Nodes Alliance. The Taskforce will be led by Melina Zarouka and Marko Stančec with the support of Ivo Cré.

Stay tuned to learn more about the activities planned under these new Taskforces!