Urban Policies and the Right to the City: Rights, Responsibilities and Citizenship
The year 2008 marked the 60th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, and the year in which for the first time more than half the world’s population lived in cities. Many now argue for the elaboration of human rights in an urban context.
This report by Alison Brown and Annali Kristiansen (of the Danish Institute of Human Rights), for UNESCO, draws to a conclusion the the three-year UNESCO/UN-HABITAT project on Urban Policies and the Right to the City. Through a series of international debates and case studies of good practice, the project sought to forge consensus amongst key actors, in particular local authorities, on public policy and legislation that combines urban development with social equity and justice. The report explores the background to the project, concepts of rights in urban development, and examples of good practice, including city and regional charters addressing urban rights, and innovations in practice such as the Brazil CityStatute, 2001, and Montréal Charter, 2002.
Urban Policies and the Right to the City: Rights, responsibilities and citizenship, Paris: UNESCO, UN-Habitat, (2008)
Additional Information
The report, Urban Policies and the Right to the City. is available to download as a PDF file from the UNESCO website.