The European Commission’s annual award is given to cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants who present their actions and strategies to become barrier-free cities that are better for everyone to live and work in.
A jury of accessibility experts awarded the city of Luxembourg first place out of 40 entries for its wide range of innovative solutions and improvements to improve accessibility for people with disabilities.
The city of Helsinki in Finland and the city of Barcelona in Spain are the second and third place winners
The Access City Award recognises and celebrates a city’s willingness, ability and efforts to become more accessible, in order to
- guarantee equal access to fundamental rights;
- improve the quality of life of its population and ensure that everybody – regardless of age, mobility or ability – has equal access to all the resources and pleasures cities have to offer
The reasons for the award are well explained on the related website: Around 87 million people have some forms of disability in the EU and its population is also becoming older. The European Union promotes equality of opportunity and accessibility for people with disabilities. A fundamental part of its strategy involves working towards a barrier-free Europe. The Access City Award is an award recognising cities that have worked to become more accessible for their citizens
Sources
EUROPEAN COMMISSION – EMPLOYMENT, SOCIAL AFFAIRS & INCLUSION
https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1141
ENAT – European Network for Accessible Tourism
https://www.accessibletourism.org/?i=enat.en.news.2268