On the eve of the Habitat III Conference, local and regional governments, representatives of civil society, the academic world and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights will meet at the UCLG Congress in Bogotá to debate how to ensure that the Right to the City is guaranteed.
The Right to the City is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities for social justice and sustainability in the 21st Century. Having emerged from people's ability to learn of, tackle and jointly resolve territorial problems and from the human aspiration for justice in urban settlements, it is developed through local government regulations and public policies.
The Right to the City places human rights in territories, from the smallest village to the largest metropolis, and it is an alternative to exclusionary “competitive city” models, which are based exclusively on market logic. The Right to the City is a conceptual framework that is able to advance solidarity and renew democracy in the 21st Century.
- The Right to the City is the exercise of the "common right to change the city" and "to change ourselves" in the process (David Harvey)
The draft New Urban Agenda refers to the Right to the City as when "all inhabitants, of present and future generations, are able to inhabit, use, and produce just, inclusive, and sustainable cities, which exist as a common good essential to a high quality of life". But how can this right be guaranteed in practice?
We invite UCLG members, representatives of local governments, researchers, social movements, and all those interested in sharing their experiences, to contribute to the political dialogue on the Right to the City that will be held in Bogotá during the World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders and the UCLG World Congress.
Whether it is included in the New Urban Agenda or not, local governments will continue to work to ensure the Right to the City in our cities and territories.
For cities shaped for the people and with the people!