Universal Accessibility

The Montréal Summit gave the Ville de Montréal an opportunity to reiterate and renew its long-standing commitment to the concept of universal accessibility. Since 1974, the City has been working to ensure that the public realm is accessible to persons with functional limitations. Its continued work in this domain led to the production in 2000 of a handbook entitled “La Ville de Montréal et les personnes handicapées et les personnes à mobilité réduite” (The Ville de Montréal and persons with handicaps and reduced mobility).

Universal accessibility is a guiding principle in the conception and layout of urban spaces and architecture. Its primary objective is to permit equal and safe access to all users of the City's buildings, public spaces and urban infrastructure. Limitations can be permanent or temporary, linked either to age or physical or intellectual disabilities. It is therefore important to plan urban development and design buildings in such a way that persons experiencing these limitations can go about their daily lives in the public realm free of obstacles or barriers.

Upgrade the public realm through coherent design of streets and other public places

Universal Accessibility

Public spaces convey the collective sense of belonging to the City. Since, by definition, a City is a gathering place, all sites accessible to the public - parks, plazas and streets - represent its most valuable asset.

Coherent design of the public realm means that streets, sidewalks, parks, plazas and squares must be designed to be comfortable, safe and pleasant areas to visit in every season, especially for pedestrians. Some areas of Montréal still reflect a lack of care for public spaces and therefore project a tarnished image. In some cases, these areas represent an environment that has little regard for the comfort and safety of pedestrians, especially those with limited mobility.

In order to ensure that public spaces contribute to the definition of Montréal's urban landscape, the City intends to enhance the quality of the public realm. It also emphasizes the importance of pedestrians in the City and intends to encourage pedestrian travel through better design of public spaces.

The Plan sets forth two actions relative to the public realm through coherent design of streets and other public places:

13.1

Facilitate travel between different areas of the City by establishing new public transportation services


		See this action

13.2

Promote pedestrian travel through improved public space design


		See this action