Access for All: Persons with Disabilities

Persons with disabilities make up nearly 15 percent of the global population, and more than half of all people with disabilities live in towns and cities. Yet our cities rarely address mobility needs across the full spectrum of people’s abilities.

Most cities are designed from the perspective of people without disabilities and for the convenience of people in motor vehicles rather than people walking, cycling, or using public transportation. Urban areas planned with people with disabilities and those with limited mobility in mind help everyone to have equitable access to social, health, and economic opportunities; stimulate economies; engage citizenship; and promote thriving communities. In this paper, the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and World Enabled (The Victor Pineda Foundation) explore accessible transit-oriented development and sustainable urban mobility through the lens of people with disabilities and offer a set of recommendations to promote responsive actions.