Research Stream: Social Structures
Author: Matthew McKenna, PhD Researcher at Maynooth University’s Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute, Research Funded through the Science Foundation of Ireland (SFI) Centre for Research Training in Advanced Networks for Sustainable Societies (ADVANCE CRT)
Friday 29th November 2024 witnessed the announcement of the winning contending cities for the 15th ‘EU Access City Awards Ceremony’ (Access City Award 2025). With the launch of the EU Access City Awards in 2010 during the first year of the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020, the EU took an initial but important step towards a more accessible future for all, irrespective of age, mobility or disability. The European Commission (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Commission’) in coordination with the European Disability Forum, created the Access City Award to “reward cities that have prioritised accessibility for persons with disabilities”.
The website of the Commission states that 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 United Nations (UN) Department of Economic and Social Affairs argues that ‘persons living with disabilities are often the poorest and most vulnerable in cities today’. Indeed, while cities in the twenty-first century are experiencing rapid growth as populations shift from rural dwellings to urban areas in search of employment and greater economic prosperity, increased costs of living alongside inaccessible urban planning, transport infrastructure and architecture, render most cities inaccessible and inundated with hazards for persons with disabilities. Furthermore, cities around the world are experiencing rapid gentrification and rising costs of living, therefore increasing the socio-economic disadvantages that are often experienced by persons with disabilities as a vulnerable demographic.
Although remote working and increased employment prospects in the cyber domain have arguably aided developed countries in creating further career opportunities for persons with disabilities, such initiatives are still in their infancy and are largely confined to the most economically developed states. In the contemporary era, cities around the planet are largely representative of the concept of the ‘disabling city’. Inaccessible built environments can contribute to traditional aspects of ableist social, economic and political marginalisation which often leads to the exclusion of persons with disabilities from cultural, public and private life. As such, the rallying cry and core ethos of ‘nothing about us without us’ in civic policy is even more difficult for people with disabilities to achieve when the architectures of modern cities remain hostile, marginalizing, and hazardous to their person.
In conjunction with the challenges posed by ableist architecture in contemporary global cities, ableism often intersects with ageism in city life as urban renewal and regeneration projects can contribute to rising costs and increased gentrification. This threatens the ability of older adults to ‘age in-place’ in an environment where they may have spent their entire lives. In turn, this can result in older adults, including those with disabilities, falling below the poverty line. Rapid technological progress and the exponential growth of high-tech computational industries over the past decades has led to increasing levels of marginalisation and unfamiliarity with changes to urban dwelling among a significant proportion of older adults. On 29th September 2015, the ‘United Nations Independent Expert on the Enjoyment of all Human Rights by Older Persons’, Rosa Kornfeld-Matte, said:
The Commission provides an overview of the values that underpin the Access City Award, encouraging cities to address these new age challenges, specifically by describing it as a ceremony for, “recognising cities that have worked to become more accessible for their citizens”.It is an EU initiative that:
- Recognises efforts by cities to become more accessible
- Promotes equal access to urban life for people with disabilities
- Allows local authorities to promote and share their best practices
Additionally, commonplace modalities and trajectories of urban development are often decided by economic requirements in the form of accommodating big businesses, heavy goods traffic, tourism, rapid mobility and regular transport for millions of people; profit and business comprise the historic approach that engenders traditional urban development. The Commission provides the following definition of a ‘Smart City’:
“A smart city is a place where traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital solutions for the benefit of its inhabitants and business”.
As such, while the future of urban development and the advent of the Smart City has brought humanity to the cusp of a new epoch, it is only through inclusivity and an emphasis on a human-centred approach that cities will become fully inclusive of all, irrespective of age or ability. As UN Secretary General, António Guterres, said on World Cities Day on October 31st 2020:
“When urban communities are engaged in policy and decision making, and empowered with financial resources, the results are more inclusive and durable. Let’s put our communities at the heart of the cities of the future”.
It is therefore imperative that the principle of ‘nothing about us without us’ underpins the future of urban planning and development alongside the creation of Smart Cities and that the UN, EU and international civil society work together to achieve significant consensus on accessible smart cities and build a mutual understanding that the future of urban environments will be wholly inclusive. People with disabilities are entitled to a leading role and an active voice in the design and development of modern, inclusive, accessible and high-tech built environments.
