The Access City Award is a traditional distinction given by the European Commission and the European Disability Forum to cities that go the extra mile in guaranteeing accessibility to the largest number. Given annually, the distribution of the awards in 2020 will mark the first decade since its establishment, hence the next winner will be celebrated with even greater honours.
For a city to be accessible, it means that it allows all people to live in it and use all things and services troubles-free, regardless of their abilities. Thus, the concept refers to facilitated mobility, purchasing goods easily, entering public buildings, accessing information, etc. Naturally, these are particularly difficult to physically disadvantaged people and the elderly. And while the first group is expected to reach an estimate of around 120 million people in Europe by next year, the share of the latter continues to grow which justifies the crucial importance of making the urban environment easy to use.
Among others, the applying cities will be judged on whether or not these are accessible:
- buildings and streets
- buses and metros
- ticket machines and cash machines
- websites and other technology that people use to communicate
- information that is easy to read and understand for everyone
The current holder of the award for 2019 is Breda in the Netherlands. In order to participate in the contest a city must be located in the EU and exceed 50 000 inhabitants (or if there are no two such cities in a country, joint applications are accepted).
