Urban development Inclusive City Hub aims to make the world’s cities more accessible

    Press release 6 December 2024 | The German Development Ministry (BMZ) has launched an initiative to make cities more accessible for people with disabilities. The Resilient and Inclusive City Hub will be established as part of the UN Global Disability Fund (formerly UN PRPD), bringing together international organisations and development banks, urban planners, cities networks, lobby groups and other stakeholders. The Hub’s aim will be to make public spaces more accessible to all. Development Minister Svenja Schulze unveiled the initiative today at the European Regional Disability Summit in Berlin. The Regional Summit is preparing the way for the Global Disability Summit, which Germany and Jordan will be hosting jointly in Berlin in April 2025.

    Development Minister Svenja Schulze said, “The cities of the future need to work for everybody, including those with disabilities. Across the world, massive efforts are being made to crisis-proof cities, preparing them for heatwaves, droughts and floods. But all too often, those efforts ignore the needs of people with disabilities. When crises hit, people with disabilities are twice as likely to die, either because they cannot get themselves to safety quickly enough or don’t receive the right support.”

    More than 1.3 billion people have a disability. That is more than 15 per cent of the global population. Over half of them live in cities. The Resilient and Inclusive City Hub initiative wants to support the world’s growing cities and their inhabitants so they can better prepare for crises and disasters. Buildings, roads, transport, warning systems and services all need to be designed so that they can be used by everyone. The plan is to conduct pilot projects for improving the lives of people with disabilities in five selected cities across the world by the end of 2026 and to also launch more small-scale innovation projects in a number of other cities.

    Logo: Global Disability Summit

    Global Disability Summit

    The Global Disability Summit was first held in 2017 to support implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and to assist countries, especially developing countries, with meeting the obligations arising from the Convention. It focuses international attention on the rights and interests of people with disabilities. Since then, summits have taken place in London in 2018 (co-hosted by the UK, Kenya and the International Disability Alliance) and in a virtual format in 2022 (co-hosted by Norway, Ghana and the International Disability Alliance). In 2025, the Summit is due to take place in Berlin. It will be co-hosted by the German Government, the Kingdom of Jordan and the International Disability Alliance.

    The Regional Summit taking place today is being hosted the German Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS), the European Disability Forum (EDF) and the German Disability Council (DBR).

    For more information go to: https://www.bmas.de/DE/Soziales/Teilhabe-und-Inklusion/European-Regional-Disability-Summit/european-regional-disability-summit-english.html