City of Copenhagen

The Bevica Foundation and the City of Copenhagen continue their cooperation on the implementation of universal design in the city's development

With the desire to strengthen the knowledge base on universal design in the administration of the municipality, the Bevica Foundation and the City of Copenhagen continue their cooperation with a partnership agreement that runs until 2027. The partnership builds on a collaboration that was founded in 2021.

People with permanent and temporary disabilities experience a number of barriers when moving around Copenhagen. The barriers do not necessarily arise because of the impairment itself, but as a consequence of the city as such not being adapted to them.

This means that not everyone has equal opportunities to participate actively in everyday life and in cultural and leisure life. In the context of Copenhagen's title as Capital of Architecture 2023, UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture (WCA), the city, in collaboration with the Bevica Foundation, focused precisely on universal design and accessibility in program and event development, which led to increased political attention.

The increased focus means, among other things, that the City of Copenhagen has written universal design into the municipality's municipal plan strategy 2023, and thus there has been a growing recognition that the level of knowledge about universal design among the municipality's employees needs to be strengthened. The Bevica Foundation and the City of Copenhagen enter into a partnership to fulfil this task.

Strengthened knowledge level

‍In cooperation with the Bevica Foundation's Universal Design Hub, the aim is to strengthen the competencies and knowledge base of each official in order to ensure that all citizens and visitors in Copenhagen with both temporary and permanent disabilities can experience the city and participate in urban life on equal terms with everyone else. The partnership will run for 2.5 years, starting in June 2024, and it is the ambition that universal design will be written into the municipality's strategies, policies and toolboxes, and that through masterclasses and workshops there will be a general knowledge boost in the civil service and among politicians.

It is precisely the dissemination of knowledge about universal design that is important when the ambition is to create cities and urban spaces in which more people can participate and are included. Therefore, Marianne Kofoed, Director of the Bevica Foundation, is also delighted with the collaboration. “Universal design is a means of creating cities and urban spaces where there is room for more. It recognizes that our bodies change throughout a lifetime, and that disability — permanent or temporary — is a condition we all share. It's a thinking that exposes the blind spots we all walk around with, which is why it's so incredibly important that a city like Copenhagen takes the lead in ensuring that universal design is anchored in the municipality's work to get everyone involved.”

The Bevica Foundation has supported the partnership with DKK 3,570,920 during the project period.