EU.POLIS 08

EUVATOS POLIS (Accessible City) 08 

A project funded by the Municipality of Thessaloniki (Greece)

Project description 

The main problem addressed through the EU.POLIS 08 project was the lack of accessibility, for people with disabilities and people with restricted mobility in general, at the routes and open spaces of the Municipality of Thessaloniki.
 The project’s actions included:

  1. Cooperation with the Municipality’s technical services in innovative applications.
  2. Evaluation of the accessibility of selected open spaces and routes in the centre of Thessaloniki. The routes evaluated were selected in order to create an accessible network connecting major points of interest of the city with the accessible METRO line which is under construction.
  3. Creation of design guidelines adjusted to the particular needs of the Municipality’s technical services.
  4. Training of the Municipality’s employees on the principles of “Design for All”.

Final beneficiaries of the project included:

  1. People with disabilities and people with restricted mobility in general, as the project’s actions concerning the routes’ evaluation led to actions on accessibility improvement and raised awareness on accessibility issues.
  2. Engineers, who had the chance through the project’s seminars to acquire knowledge on Universal Design, and how to overcome design obstacles.
  3. Municipal technical services employees, for whom design tools adjusted to their particular needs were created.

Deliverables 

  • D1.1: Evaluation of existing accessibility level (free spaces – routes)
  • D1.2: Timeframe estimation for the proposed accessibility interventions
  • D2.1: Design guidebook and good practice examples
  • D2.2: Good practices in the design of routes and open spaces
  • D2.3: Examples of accessibility improvement projects at municipal level
  • D3.1: Evaluation of the accessibility of the under construction Thessaloniki METRO line
  • D4.1: Behaviour of civil servants towards citizens with disabilities (Guidebook)Project Partners

Project Partners 

  • AUTh: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)
  • MT: Municipality of Thessaloniki (Greece)