The European Commission grants Zaragoza the highest distinction of the Access City Award 2026, the prizes which reward European municipalities which have demonstrated a solid, ambitious and continuous policy on accessibility. The mayor of the capital … The Aragonese, Natalia Chueca, received the award in Brussels during the events celebrating the European Day of People with Disabilities, she was “very proud of this recognition of the work we have been doing for years. Zaragoza is the city that has shown the greatest sensitivity so that all people with different abilities have the same rights and can have the best quality of life”. Thanks to this title, the Aragonese capital will receive an economic award of 150,000 euros which will be used to continue the promotion universal accessibility policies.
Chueca recalled the step that represented the approval in 2023 of the Municipal Ordinance on Accessibility, which had its continuity with the Accessibility Table, the Municipal Accessibility Office and the Strategic Plan for Universal Accessibility 2025-2030. This work places the city among the European benchmarks in terms of governance, planning and execution of inclusive policies and earned it the Queen Letizia Prize for the accessibility of municipalities in 2024.
As an example, Natalia Chueca cited the accessibility criteria that the City Council sets in terms of mobility, the reform of the streets, with polo-tactile floor coverings, the rehabilitation of housing and also the cognitive and communicative accessibility measures in municipal services and facilities.
All these advances have been valued by the European Commission, as has the adaptation of infrastructure and inclusive culture – underlines the Sala Entreluces of the Pablo Gargallo Museum.accessible remote assistance, easy-to-read documentation, toilets for people with ostomies or improvements in transport accessibility, among others.
The mayor also highlighted “the participatory work with all the Third Sector entities that work on accessibility and, of course, the transversal work of all sectors of the City Hall itself to make Zaragoza an accessible city”.
Zaragoza It thus becomes the European Capital of Accessibility 2026, who arrives at Vienna (Austria) in this title and beating the four other finalists of this edition: Valencewho won second prize, Rennes (France), who finished third, Pleasure (Italy) and Salzburg (Austria). A total of 51 applications were submitted.
This award recognizes cities that integrate accessibility transversally into public services, urban planning, transport, communication, housing and technology, with the aim of guaranteeing autonomy, participation and equal opportunities for all.
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