Access City Award 2021

The winner of the 2021 Access City Award is the city of Jönköping, in Sweden. Bremerhaven in Germany and Gdynia in Poland won second and third place, respectively. In addition, Poznán in Poland, Komotini in Greece, and Florence in Italy all received special mention awards.

The Access City Award is a prize for Europe's most accessible cities. All EU cities with a population over 50 000 are eligible. The award provides an excellent opportunity for cities to showcase their initiatives to become barrier-free, and to be better places for everyone to work and live in.

The award recognises and celebrates a city’s willingness, ability and efforts to become more accessible with the aim of improving quality of life, guaranteeing equal access to fundamental rights and ensuring that everybody may access all resources a city has to offer regardless of age, mobility or ability.

Jönköping were designated the winner of the 11th edition of the award during an online ceremony on 1 December 2020. The city has worked in collaboration with disability organisations to make continuous improvements in both the new and old areas of the city.  The city also created a local ‘Access City Award’, for businesses or organisations that worked with their customers to improve accessibility.

Poznań in Poland received a special mention for accessibility of public services in times of the pandemic. Two further special mentions were awarded to Komotini in Greece for “accessibility as an opportunity for the whole city” and Florence in Italy for the “built environment”.

The online ceremony can be viewed here, and further information can be found at the following website:

Access City Award 2021 - Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion - European Commission (europa.eu)