ZuriACT (Zurich Accessible CiTy)

ZuriACT: Project team gives a status update and provides an outlook
The ZuriACT project team hosted an event on January 24 to provide information on the current status and celebrate what has been achieved so far. Attendees were also informed about the next steps in the project.

Over the past few months, dedicated participants of the project have actively contributed to enriching spatial accessibility data on sidewalks using the Project Sidewalk web tool. Thanks to the commitment of these valuable participants, more than 7500 features have been collected within the study area of District 1 of the City of Zurich.

To commemorate these achievements and provide an overview of the project's current status, Hoda Allahbakhshi and her team organized a Status Update Event on January 24 at the Digital Society Initiative of the University of Zurich. This event served as a platform for stakeholders, participants, and other interested individuals to come together, sharing insights and experiences gained during the first data collection phase.

Simone Brander, the City Counciler, opened the presentation by acknowledging the two project managers, Hoda Allahbakhshi and François Rüttimann (GIS Project Leader, Innovation & Strategy, Geomatics + Surveying, City of Zurich), the research team, and all the volunteers, emphasizing that their collective efforts have made ZuriACT possible. She continued by stating that the primary goal of the ZuriACT project is to facilitate inclusive mobility in the city of Zurich, with a current focus on the old town as the study area. She expressed the city's commitment to equality for all residents in every aspect and highlighted the importance of accessible public spaces, especially in her role as the head of the civil engineering and waste disposal department. «I am delighted that ZuriACT is collaborating with various city departments. In my view, this collaboration between society, science, and administration is forward-looking» she said (Text is translated from Swiss German). Simone Brander extended her gratitude, saying: «I would like to express my thanks to you, both as a city councilor responsible for public space and on behalf of the entire city council. I take pride in the city of Zurich supporting a project like ZuriACT, dedicated to building an inclusive city. I assure you that our commitment to inclusion extends beyond sidewalks; it is a priority across the city's agenda» (Text is translated from Swiss German).

As for the next steps, the research team outlined their plan to collect more accessibility data on sidewalks in District 1 and validate the gathered information through various stages, such as using the infra3D web tool provided by the company iNovitas. Additionally, a focus group is scheduled on March 14, aiming to gather further insights from citizens and stakeholders regarding their experiences and needs in accessibility.

Registration for the Focus Group Discussion and the data collection is still possible until the end of February 2024.

 Deutsch

Flyer as PDF (EN) (PDF, 239 KB)  

The University of Zurich, in collaboration with the city of Zurich, is launching the pilot project “ZuriACT: Zurich Accessible CiTy” for barrier-free and inclusive mobility in District 1 of the city of Zurich.

Existing routing services and digital maps fail to provide practical navigation guidance for disabled people in terms of mobility due to the lack of relevant information (e.g., sidewalk inclination, crossings, and ramps) to the needs of these user groups, which results inincomplete routing results or results that may not always reflect real-world conditions.

The ZuriACT pilot project aims to remedy this situation by providing a basis for a systematic collection and enrichment of accessibility features with and for citizens in Zurich. Valuable know-how from the "Digital Society Initiative", the competence center for co-designing the digital transformation of society and science at the University of Zurich, will be incorporated into the project.

• In workshops and focus group discussions, the initial data collection specifications developed by the project team will be further discussed with citizens in order to collect key information about the relevant accessibility features to be collected, the data collection design, and methodology and make sure that the needs, knowledge, demand, and interests of the involving participants have been taken into account in all the stages of the project.
• In data crowdsourcing, with the help of digital web tools that allow for virtual inspections and measurements of accessibility features by using street view images, we contribute to collecting and enriching accessibility information of the city of Zurich. The enriched data will serve as a basis for personalized routing services that consider the needs of disabled people in terms of mobility.

We are still looking for participants
For the project described above, we are looking for community-dwelling older adults with agerelated mobility impairments, parents with pushchairs, disabled people in terms of mobility, and their relatives or caregivers who would like to share their know-how and help contribute to the inclusivity of the city of Zurich. Participation will be compensated with a contribution towards expenses.

Register now for our citizen science project and help us lay the groundwork to make the city of Zurich more accessible for everyone.
To participate, you must be at least 18 years old.

https://www.uzh.ch/zi/cl/

Do you have any questions?
Please send us an email: ZuriACT_info@dsi.uzh.ch
Hoda Allahbakhshi, Project leader (Language: English)
Annina Ardüser, Research assistant (Language: German)

Flyer as PDF (EN) (PDF, 239 KB)