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InspirationRenovationReal Estate
A magazine dedicated to compact interiors

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Urban accessibility

Mission invisible?
For Sloft+ members only


This file is from Sloft Edition 07

 

The issue of accessibility in cities remains problematic. Case in point: while the fact of hosting the 2024 Paralympic Games has accelerated the pace of change in the French capital, access to public infrastructures for people with disabilities remains limited, despite the temporary accommodations and infrastructural upgrades made for the event. This observation raises questions about the place given by society to vulnerable people in the city, even though the law requires it to do so.

In front of millions of viewers, on the Place de la Concorde, in the heart of Paris, Lucky Love sang the first notes of his song “My Ability”: “What’s wrong with my body? Am I not enough?” before dropping his jacket to reveal his absent arm. Lucky Love was born with agenesis, a rare malformation that left him without a left arm. Around him, dancers of all abilities formed a poetic tableau, in which differences are erased in favor of a moving artistic performance. Under their feet, the Place’s iconic cobblestones were evened out to allow them to move as freely as possible.

The date is August 28, 2024, summer is drawing to a close in Paris, and the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games marks the start of two weeks of competitions. For the first time, there is palpable excitement surrounding para-athlete events. Mathilde Cabanis, a volunteer at the Games who has a motor disability, was delighted by this long-awaited recognition: “It’s incredible to see disabled athletes being applauded by thousands of people.”

Hakim Arezki, an Olympic champion with the French blind football team, was equally moved: “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a para athlete to take part in the Games at home. And here, under the Eiffel Tower, to boot! I’ll never forget the feeling of the medal around my neck.”

The city’s infrastructure underwent several months of work to accommodate para athletes and visitors. According to Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris Organizing Committee, the aim was to “drive change in the way disability is perceived.” A total of 33 million euros was spent on major improvements like fully accessible accommodation in the athletes’ village, lowering of sidewalks, sound systems for traffic lights, and equipment adapted to different disabilities – some of which, it bears mentioning, are temporary. But after the Games leave town, what’s really left for this often-overlooked population?
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PARIS CAN DO BETTER

 

Paris had its work cut out to host the Paralympic Games. In 2022, website money.co.uk conducted a study on accessibility in the world’s twenty most visited cities, which placed the capital in seventh position, behind Dublin, Amsterdam and New York.

The reason: its transportation network, in particular, the Métro, is largely inadequate. Only one line (14) is fully accessible to people with motor disabilities, and even if all lines are accessible to people with disabilities, very few venture onto them. Thanks to the Paralympic Games, the city has ramped up the accessibility of its bus and streetcar network, which is now able to accommodate all users.

“When the bus ramp works, which isn’t always the case,” sighs Agathe Barrois, who lives with a genetic disease that requires her to use a heavy electric wheelchair. Every commute has taught the École normale supérieure student patience. The speed of the Métro is a distant dream. She has to avoid rush hours, when there’s no room for her wheelchair, not to mention the daily incivilities: “I once had a stranger sit on my lap”, she recalls.

Just as public transport is inaccessible, so are certain buildings, such as schools and local shops. The slightest journey quickly turns into an obstacle course with no room for improvisation: “Everything has to be programmed in advance, there’s no room for spontaneity”, laments Nicolas Mérille, national advisor to NGO APF France Handicap.

The hosting of the Paralympic Games has nonetheless enabled certain sustainable developments, he acknowledges, such as “the fleet of 1,000 accessible cabs and the construction of 3,000 homes in the Olympic Village, which are slated to be folded into the social and private housing stock”.

Another project accelerated by the presence of the Games in Paris is the creation of seventeen “enhanced accessibility” districts, enabling anyone, whatever their situation, to get around easily and have access to municipal services in their area. While still largely unknown to local residents, this project will benefit the 7% of the Paris region’s population who are living with disabilities. But the twelve million disabled people spread across the rest of the country will probably have to wait even longer, as the French government prepares to celebrate 50 years of public action in this field in January 2025.

 

Photographs : Paris 2024 / Isabelle Harsin