By 2050, around 70 % of the global population will reside in urban areas, including over 2 billion older persons and persons with disabilities who already today face barriers to access urban infrastructure, spaces, and services on an equal basis with others. Accessibility is a crosscutting and a core component of inclusive and sustainable urbanisation and a success factor for localised action to leave no one behind. This dedicated, multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral exhibition under the banner of “ACCESSIBILITY 2030” provides a unique opportunity to champion inclusion and demonstrate how and why accessibility is a key driver for sustainability and resilience, gather key stakeholders to showcase innovations, approaches, solutions, learnings, research, examples and practices to build more accessible cities for all, facilitate discussions on accessibility challenges and solutions in our cities and communities to curb the growing accessibility crisis, promote peer-learning opportunities around policy tools, evidence, educational resources and guidelines, and through interactive and immersive experiences, panels, peer-learning activities, and games. It will foster multi-stakeholder and multi-level partnerships to accelerate local actions embedding localization and participatory approaches.
This expo will be jointly curated by and feature contents from World Blind Union (lead), Global Disability Innovation Hub (lead), AT2030/FCDO, Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) International Disability Alliance (IDA), together with United Cities and Local Governments (CoP), University College London, WHO’s Global network for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities, Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs, City Space Architecture, Vision Ireland, Cities 4 All Network, CBM Global Disability Inclusion, and the Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities PCGs of the General Assembly of Partners.