LEGO explains how its new airport builds towards a ‘completely inclusive city’

LEGO City’s Design Manager has explained how a brand new element included in 2026’s airport is building towards the team’s goal of a ‘completely inclusive city’.

60502 Airport with Airplane launches January 1, and while you’ll immediately notice the realistic and detailed approach to the terminal – complete with a metal detector, luggage scanner, departure board, baggage carousel and more – one of the minifigures is also wearing a brand new badge accessory piece around their neck, which in this case is printed with a sunflower.

“Last year, you might have noticed we made the crutch elements, because we are trying to show a completely inclusive city; it should represent everything,” LEGO City Design Manager Chris Stamp told New Elementary. “Now we do know that there’s children out there who have these Sunflower Lanyards. It was something that was suggested by the creative lead of LEGO City, Simon Lucas.”

The Sunflower Lanyard – which signals that the wearer has a non-visible disability – first appeared in a handful of 2025 sets, including 10350 Tudor Corner, where it’s printed on a 2x2 tile. In 42656 Heartlake City Airport, it’s printed directly on to the torso of a mini-doll. But for 2026, the LEGO City team has cooked up a more versatile way to add the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower to sets.

“The challenge with it is there's different ways you can execute that,” Chris added. “You could decorate it on a torso. What torso do you do? Is it a male torso, is it a female? Is it an adult, or a child? Is it someone in a suit? Is it a child in a school outfit? You might end up with 15 different torsos, which doesn't make sense.

“There's also that thing that sometimes torsos also have skin tones, so how reusable is a torso? It's something that we've tried to not really do so much anymore; if we've got an outfit, especially in LEGO City, we try to not have the neckline, so a torso can be reused on multiple different minifigures.”

The solution was the new badge element that appears in 60502 Airport with Airplane, which feels similar in concept and execution to the existing medal accessory. For this LEGO City set it’s printed with a sunflower, but its potential applications extend way beyond that particular lanyard.

“I've got to give full credit to this for Simon, because he thought about it, and it was one of those light-bulb moments,” Chris said. “Why don't we make an element to do this? It could be placed on top of every single existing torso we have, even Darth Vader! But this could also be used as a LEGO badge, or an ID card. It could be used as a security badge. It could be used as many, many other things.”

We’ll likely see the new badge accessory pop up in many more ways down the line, but for now you’ll be able to check it out for yourself when 60502 Airport with Airplane debuts on January 1. The LEGO City set includes 887 pieces and nine minifigures, and will retail for £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99.

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