La accesibilidad a las Ciudades Patrimonio de la Humanidad: el caso de Ávila y sus murallas

The historic centres usually suffer from problems of urban mobility and accessibility, which are complemented with accessibility problems in both public and private buildings. In the world heritage cities, there is also a demand for heritage protection due to its uniqueness and a greater tourist influx, which demands a special sensitivity in the interventions and an appropriate relationship between urban surroundings and access to monuments.It is these Spanish world heritage cities that have become in leaders of accessibility, giving an example to the rest of historic sites. Thus, for example, we find early measures such as the escalators of Toledo, the integration of urban ramps or accessible pedestrian routes such as Cordoba or Salamanca, or the enhancement of archaeological remains seeking compatibility with accessibility in Tarragona. Nevertheless, if it is necessary to emphasize the effort of a city to be accessible this would be Avila, because it has integrated accessibility in all its areas, especially the patrimonial and the services, linked not only to tourism but also to the day to day of its citizens.Ávila was recognized in 2011 as the first European City of Accessibility and has become a benchmark in this area. Ávila seeks accessibility in and with all the senses, does not stay in the suppression of barriers, but also works to improve visual, hearing and cognitive accessibility. As a maximum exponent of this effort we find the work developed around the wall, at once a symbol in the origin of the impregnable and accessible monument.This intervention that gives access to the wall-walk has been contemplated until now only from accessibility. However, the confrontation of it with the values of the own monument suggests the idea that the accessibility can become a new value of the heritage, preserving those others that it already has: historical, landscape, constructive, symbolic. This intervention has served to bring about a change of mentality towards the heritage and accessibility, generating an integrative vision of the disability and the appreciation of the walls as an element of identity of the city.