Co-designing and mapping for accessible cities: A cross-disability project in Zwolle, the Netherlands

Digital collaborative mapping tools are developed for engaging stake-holders in urban planning processes addressing societal challenges such as climate change adaptation, energy transition, or healthy urban living. Existing tools and approaches, such as PGIS, PSS or serious gaming, hold the promise of broad
and diverse stakeholder participation in planning related activities. However, they do not yet accommodate the participation of people with diverse abilities and disabilities, although inclusive participation is called for in international policies and conventions. The paper reports on the development of an inclusive collaborative mapping tool that facilitates the participation of people with disabilities. To this end, we conducted a tool co-design process with a group of people with various physical disabilities in a Dutch case study on accessibility to public space. The envisioned purpose of the tool is to support the inclusive design of urban public spaces that meet the requirements of all people, with and without disabilities. The result is an open-source prototype of an inclusive collaborative mapping tool implemented on a maptable.