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From local innovation to European transfer: Komotini and the future of accessible cities

From local innovation to European transfer: Komotini and the future of accessible cities

AUTHOR: IO CHATZIVARYTI, LEAD EXPERT FOR URBACT TN C.ALL

As European cities face growing pressure to create more inclusive, sustainable, and people-centred urban environments, accessibility is increasingly moving from the margins of policy discussion to the centre of urban governance. Yet for many municipalities, especially medium-sized cities, translating accessibility commitments into coherent action remains a challenge. Fragmented planning, limited technical capacity, and insufficient stakeholder coordination often prevent accessibility from becoming a truly systemic urban priority.

The URBACT Transfer Network C.ALL – Accessible Cities for All offers an alternative approach. Led by Komotini, the network explores how accessibility can evolve from isolated interventions into an integrated governance model linking mobility, public space, participation, digital innovation, and social inclusion. At the heart of the network lies the transfer of the good practice “Komotini Accessible City for All”, a methodology developed progressively over two decades through cooperation between the municipality, civil society organisations, technical experts, and people with disabilities themselves.

Rather than presenting accessibility as a technical checklist, the Komotini approach treats it as a continuous urban process embedded across all areas of city planning. Seven European partner cities — Jarosław, San Lucido, Bratislava, Galway, Dubrovnik, Pentágono Urbano in Portugal, and Zrenjanin — are working to adapt this methodology to their own local realities through study visits, stakeholder engagement, and peer-learning activities.