Anas Alhakim moves through Berlin with amazing ease. When using your wheelchair on a sidewalk or crossing a street, you use your arms to propel yourself up, reaching speeds that make it difficult to keep up. He himself warns with a smile: “I’m warning you, I drive fast, don’t let me leave you behind.” When it comes to catching a bus or subway, the 31-year-old software developer knows where the stops are, where the elevators are located and how to transfer. His warning proves extremely useful when EL PAÍS accompanies him on a journey between the Zoologischer Garten train station in the west of the German capital and Alexanderplatz in the east. “Come on,” he says and storms towards the elevator that will take him to the S-Bahn platform.

“In general, I have to plan my route, how to get from point A to point B,” he explains on the train. “I value my time very much and don’t want to waste it hanging around.” Alhakim, a Syrian who immigrated to Germany a decade ago, keeps two websites handy on his phone. On the one hand, Wheelmap lets you find wheelchair-accessible places – “it’s like Google for us,” he explains; The other, BrokenLifts, is a guide to all public transport lifts in and around Berlin and, as the name suggests, warns which lifts are not working. With these two tools, Alhakim, who goes to his appointment wearing a sweatshirt that says “Walking is Overrated,” moves around with almost no complications. “Yes, Berlin is a very accessible city,” he confirms. “Although, look, there are 27 broken elevators right now,” he says, pointing an accusing finger at the screen of his cellphone.

A user of the Berlin U-Bahn, which has elevators in the vast majority of stations. Manuel Vazquez

The German capital has made “barrier-free” its unofficial motto. The city-state of 3.8 million people has passed the country’s most progressive accessibility laws. Especially in public areas: means of transport, sidewalks or buildings such as schools, kindergartens, museums and libraries are accessible to wheelchair users, elderly people who use a walker or families with prams. It is already a rarity that, for example, a subway station does not have an elevator. When it happens, as is the case with the central Deutsche Oper, it is because there is another one just 200 meters away on the same line that has one. Ten years after winning the European Union’s Access City Awards, the German capital “has gotten even better,” admits Stefan Carsten, a geographer specializing in urban mobility.

Carsten comes to the appointment on his portable Brompton bike. He suggests meeting at Hackescher Markt, a very central shopping area, because it combines good practice but also another one – too short a tram stop – not very accessible. “Berlin is redefining public space to reduce motorization,” he explains. Parking spaces or lanes would be removed to make more room for bicycles, wheelchairs and pedestrians, and “that is a huge relief for the city.” The expert, who has advised the Berlin government, particularly highlights the city-state’s mobility law, “the first in the world” because it sets clear priorities for land use: pedestrians, cyclists and public transport first, followed by the car.

Access keys to disabled toilets across Europe. The government supplies it. Manuel Vazquez

When architect Enrique Rovira-Beleta traveled to Berlin 20 years ago, he was struck by how easy it was for him to get around in a wheelchair. Make a special memory of visiting the Reichstag, the iconic German parliament building renovated by Norman Foster and its circular ramp leading to the roof. The lack of architectural barriers seemed very symbolic to him, he recalls. The director of the postgraduate course in Accessibility: Specialist in Universal Design at the International University of Catalonia (UIC) has written extensively on how the architecture of cities must increasingly adapt to the needs of older people. In his opinion, Berlin is on the right track. As early as 2003, he visited a senior citizens’ project there, which was not what is traditionally understood as a senior citizens’ residence: it was a series of independent apartments with common services, looked after by specialized staff.

A woman with a cart crosses Alexanderplatz. Manuel Vazquez

The majority of public buildings are barrier-free, in many cases also for people with visual impairments. The weak point is the private sector and in particular the houses, many of which are in early 20th century buildings where there is neither an elevator nor the physical possibility of installing one. Alhakim took eight months and many applications – 400; They only called him from 5 and offered him a visit – to find the adapted apartment he now lives in, near Kurfürstendamm, the famous shopping street of former West Berlin.

The solution to this challenge is inevitably slower, but progressing, defends Maike Pischke, Coordinator for Accessibility at the Department for Urban Development, Building and Housing in Berlin. Building law has “developed enormously” since the German capital won the “Accessible City” award, he says. The focus is on new buildings, since the installation of an elevator or stair lift in old buildings is often technically not feasible or too expensive for the owners, despite public funding.

An information point for the visually impaired in the Berlin subway. Manuel Vazquez

The city now requires 50% accessible housing in buildings with more than two apartments and an elevator. “Like the whole of Europe, Berlin is stuck in the real estate crisis,” says Pischke. Therefore, a balance must be maintained between the demands placed on builders and the moderation of building prices. In social housing, barrier-free apartments receive a subsidy of 15,000 euros per floor.

As with newly built apartments, the regulations also provide for unrestricted accessibility for new schools, kindergartens, museums or libraries. The major refurbishment that the Pergamon Museum, one of the tourist jewels of the German capital, is undertaking from autumn also aims to adapt the building, which was built in the 1930s and was badly damaged during World War II, to accommodate visitors of all kinds.

In addition to passing laws, the Berlin Senate has launched other voluntary measures, such as a guide that teaches the application of the concept of “design for everyone” or “universal design”. Since 2021 there has also been a consulting service for architects. Those interested can book a one-hour talk with an accessibility expert paid by the Department of Urban Development.

One Tuesday morning, Holger Ulbricht and his wife Klara are getting ready to board a number 200 bus. You will take a short trip from Fischerinsel, where you will be staying in a relatively modern 12-storey building, to Alexanderplatz. 83-year-old Holger uses a walker and struggles to climb the step alone. Therefore, both position themselves clearly on the pavement and make gestures to warn the driver. Upon arrival, the driver gets out, goes to the first door and opens a hatch from which he takes out the ramp. Holger overcomes the obstacle in small steps. The driver again saves the ramp and gets behind the wheel. He will do the same when he arrives at the stop where the couple is getting off. “I don’t use transportation as much as I used to, but I feel like I have the freedom to do it and it’s not complicated,” says the retiree.

Nikita. Manuel Vazquez

Aside from the many places that are currently being worked on, it’s easy to walk around town and cross a street. There are bumps, but almost all sidewalks are lowered every few meters to facilitate the passage of wheelchairs, carts or, in Holger’s case, a walker. “I dare not compare it to other cities; To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to that on my trip, but I think that Berlin has done a good job in terms of accessibility,” he says goodbye.

Reiner Delgado from the Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted highlights how much mobility has improved for blind people in the city, with tactile signals on the ground at most stations, traffic lights with sound and vibration to know when they are turning green door-to-door escort service bookable by telephone on public transport. But mobility is not everything. Cultural initiatives are also flourishing, such as the recent inclusive exhibitions at the Berlinische Galerie, the Deutsches Historisches Museum and the PalaisPopulaire. Or sports, such as the construction of a special soccer field for the blind. “As a blind person there are many things you can do to have fun and participate in the social and cultural life of the city,” he says.

View of Potsdamer Platz from the terrace of the 100 meter high Kollhoff Tower. Manuel Vazquez

The big problem for people with visual impairments are electric scooters, which pile up by the dozens on Berlin’s sidewalks, even on the most central streets, without anyone doing anything about it. “Sometimes with the stick you don’t realize there is one because it goes beyond it and falls easily. I had three or four falls,” Delgado laments. Thankfully without major consequences, but your organization knows of broken bones. The city is very lax with these vehicles. Berlin has passed a rule that requires rental companies – there are at least five, with at least 30,000 e-scooters – to have a contact phone number and remove the scooter in less than four hours if a nuisance is reported. Delgado laughs skeptically: “I would have to see which company it was from and write down the number, and when I went there three hours later I would still find the same obstacle.”

Nikita agrees to be photographed by El País Semanal at Potsdamer Platz, the downtown transportation hub where the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, regional train and several buses meet, as well as thousands of tourists visiting the cinema museum or cinema Recently the Playce shopping center was opened. The 21-year-old economics and political science student moves around easily in his wheelchair and prefers not to have his last name appear. Nikita says he’s generally happy, but like Alhakim, he recalls that sometimes the elevators break down and that this is an insurmountable obstacle for them.

“And there’s the human factor, too,” he says, recounting a recent incident where a bus driver wouldn’t let him on because the vehicle was full. Actually, he explains, he should have asked the passengers to clear the reserved area so he could board. “Sometimes we depend on other people; Some are nice, some aren’t,” she shrugs.

Users of public transport at Alexanderplatz. Manuel Vazquez

Hosting the Special Olympics competition (June 17-25) will test Berlin’s accessibility advances as thousands of athletes with intellectual disabilities compete in 26 disciplines and reside across the city. “We believe this event can be a catalyst to give visibility to Berlin’s efforts to become a barrier-free city,” said Carlo Carbone, a spokesman for the city’s public tourism company, Visit Berlin, a few days before the opening .

Berlin’s tourism industry has been working to become more inclusive for years, he explains while showing off one of the city’s newest cultural monuments, the Humboldt Forum next to Museum Island. Inaugurated between 2021 and 2022, the building is fully accessible, including its spectacular terrace, where a person in a wheelchair can circumnavigate the entire perimeter thanks to ramps that overcome bumps. Museums such as the Neues Museum, renovated in 2009 by architect David Chipperfield, have included pieces such as a copy of the famous bust of Nefertiti in the exhibition, which is designed so that people with visual impairments can spot them with their fingertips.

Visit Berlin devotes part of its efforts to promoting inclusive tourism. To ensure that people with disabilities can enjoy exhibitions, concerts or restaurants, it collaborates with the Travel for All organization, which regularly evaluates all types of infrastructure: museums, tourist offices, hotels … If they verify that it is accessible, are a kind of reference work for trips throughout Germany. The Federal Ministry of Economics finances this evaluation work, which has so far certified 3,000 places nationwide as barrier-free.

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