The Access City Award, organised by the European Commission together with the European Disability Forum, was launched in 2010 to promote accessibility initiatives in European cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants.
The winners of the 2021 edition was announced during a ceremony on 1st December 2020, as part of the European Day of Persons with Disabilities conference. This year’s conference took place on line.
You can follow the recording of the event here. The YouTube video presents the projects implemented by the 6 cities selected out of 50 applicants.
The three winners made their cities accessible under very different circumstances and challenges :
- Jönköping in Sweden is the big winner of the 2021 edition, rewarding its dedication to accessibility despite its – beautiful, picturesque, but also – challenging geographical location.
- Bremerhaven in Germany ranks second for its comprehensive approach addressing all kinds of accessibility issues.
- Gdynia in Poland wins the third prize for its continuous effort to improve accessibility and inclusion despite its large industrial areas.
Three special prizes were awarded to:
- The city of Poznan in Poland for the accessibiliy of their public services in times of pandemic. The Polish city especially supports isolated residents, getting older people to sow mask for other seniors, and supporting older people in using information and communication technologies.
- The city of Komotini in Northern Greece for making accessibility into an opportunity for the whole city, namely in developing infrastructure accessible to everyone, from sports to busses, but also supporting cooperation and social inclusion for all.
- The city of Firenze (Florence) in Italy for the accessibility of its built environment, allowing everyone to access this historic city, e.g with one stop shops.
On behalf of AGE Platform Europe, Liz Mestheneos, AGE former President, participated this year again in the jury of the EU Award. While some years ago the focus of cities and expert jurors was on specific and technical aspects of disability and inclusion, there has been increasing recognition that many older people have difficulty in accessing the towns and cities they live in. This is why we think our participatuion is important.
Read more in the press release of the European Commission
