Past, present and future of Accessible Zaragoza study case: Collaborative mapping for the integration of impaired people

In 2008 there were 3.8 million people with some type of functional disabilities in Spain, which represent the 8.5% of the entire population. These elevated figures do not take into account people with a temporary disability (due to an accident or lesion) nor elderly who have their motor skills reduced. And yet, surprisingly, these large group of people are quite often relegated to a secondary role in the way they experience the city and their urban lives. Two are the main causes of such social exclusion: the first one lies on cities’ morphology, whereas the second one lies on technology, as quite often none of them take into account impaired people.

Accessible Zaragoza is an action-research project of collaborative mapping about urban accessibility in the city of Zaragoza (Spain) that proposes a possible solution to overcome both barriers at once. Started in 2016 by the School of Architecture and Technology at San Jorge University with the close collaboration of Mapeado Collaborativo, the project is aimed to create a crowdsorced online map that contributes to increase the autonomy of people with functional diversity and hence, their social integration and living standards. After explaining our methodology and how it differs from other apparently similar projects, we will make an overview of some of our past and present achievements as well as the limitations we have had to deal with. As a result, we will demonstrate the possibilities of collaborative mapping as empowering tools for the integration of socially excluded collectives that will outline a possible future line of action.