HEALTHY AND CARING CITIES: Accessibility for All and the Role of Urban Spaces in Re-Activating Capabilities

Abstract

The worsening of social, health, and economic vulnerabilities and the rising demand for supply of welfare spaces and services prompt reflection on ‘accessibility for all, ' meaning the physical organization of urban infrastructures and facilities that can provide inhabitants with conditions of autonomous and active mobility (walking, cycling, public transport). An inclusive usability of urban spaces plays a fundamental role in increasing the opportunities given to persons to contribute to their well-being, according to their different physical, cognitive, and sensorial capabilities. Today these issues appear more critical in the light of COVID-19 pandemic and of the inequalities produced by the limits on the use of fundamental services. Even more important is the need to understand accessibility as a right of citizenship, and ‘motility’ as leverage both to reshape urban environments as ‘caring cities, ' and to develop new ‘caring with’ models of public welfare based on citizens’ involvement in service co-production.