The Role of Low-altitude Economy in Sustainable Urban Development

Abstract

— Rapid urbanization is steadily increasing demand for low-carbon, efficient, and resilient systems in cities. Against this backdrop, the low-altitude economy, represented by uncrewed aircraft and electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, has gradually become an important emerging issue in sustainable urban construction. However, existing studies mostly focus on technological applications, industrial development, or urban air traffic scenarios, and there is still relatively little discussion of how the low-altitude economy systematically contributes to sustainable urban construction. Based on methods of literature review and comparative analysis, this paper explores the role of the low-altitude economy in sustainable urban construction across four dimensions: environment, economy, society, and space. The study concludes that the low-altitude economy can diminish carbon emissions, enhance energy efficiency, and facilitate urban green development via unmanned aerial remote sensing, environmental monitoring, and ecological governance in particular transportation contexts; in the economic dimension, the low-altitude economy helps cultivate low-carbon, intelligent and technology-intensive industrial chains, and simultaneously improves the operational efficiency of urban logistics, inspection and emergency services; in the social and spatial dimensions, the low-altitude economy can enhance urban resilience through risk monitoring, emergency response, post-disaster assessment and other means, and provide new organizational flexibility for limited ground space. The paper argues that the low-altitude economy should not be understood as a comprehensive replacement for traditional ground transportation, nor as a universal large-scale air transportation system for all residents. Instead, it should be defined as a scenario-oriented, function-supplementing type of urban infrastructure. The realization of its sustainable value depends on specific application scenarios, infrastructure layout, airspace management, safety supervision, and coordination with the urban planning system. Therefore, the low-altitude economy offers new technical pathways and spatial governance perspectives for sustainable urban development. However, its development still needs to be advanced within the framework of prudent planning,