Key points
- The Ministry of Development, together with LUN, has published a ranking of cities by level of physical accessibility.
- The most accessible city was recognized as Lviv – the leader in terms of accessibility of buildings, available routes, and participation of people with disabilities in decision-making.
- Kharkiv and Vinnytsia entered the top three, with the largest investments in accessibility over the past five years.
- Transport remains the weakest link: there is a lack of accessible buses and trams even in the leading cities.
- From June 1, Ukraine started an annual monitoring of accessibility – this year, residential buildings, hotels, restaurants, and gas stations will be checked for the first time.
The Ministry of Community and Territorial Development, together with LUN, published a ranking of cities by level of physical accessibility – it shows how accessible Ukrainian cities are for people with disabilities, veterans, elderly people, and other low-mobility groups.
The most accessible city was determined to be Lviv – it topped the ranking and showed the best results in terms of accessibility of buildings, availability of accessible routes, and involvement of people with disabilities in decision-making.
Kharkiv took second place, having invested the most in the development of accessibility over the past 5 years.
Vinnytsia closed the top three, also with high investments in the accessibility of the urban environment.
The ranking covered seven areas:
- accessibility of information about objects;
- adaptation of buildings and spaces;
- development of accessible routes;
- accessibility of public transport;
- financing of measures from the city budget for 2020-2025;
- number of meetings of local accessibility councils;
- involvement of people with disabilities in decision-making.
All indicators have the same weight.
According to individual categories, different cities are leading. The most digitized objects on the Accessibility Map are in Lutsk and Zhytomyr. The most accessible transport is in Kropyvnytskyi. The most active accessibility councils are in Chernivtsi and Zhytomyr.
The worst situation is with transport: there is a lack of accessible buses and trams for low-mobility passengers even in the leading cities, because their modernization requires large expenditures and long-term planning.
On June 1, Ukraine started an annual monitoring of accessibility. This year, more objects will be checked than before: for the first time, multi-apartment residential buildings, hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and other business objects that provide services to the population have been added to the list.
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