Urban Policies

"A citizen was originally a person who had the right to live in a city and who, by exercising rights and fulfilling duties like every other citizen, helped build a civilization," Federico Mayor, Editorial of the UNESCO Courrier, June 1999.

A number of initiatives have been carried out at various levels towards promoting a rights-based approach and ensuring the 'Right to the City' for all urban dwellers. At the national level, there is an increasing pressure to empower municipal authorities to contribute to local and global sustainable development. The primary objective of a city is viewed as one of fulfilling a social function and, in pursuit of sustainability and social justice, guaranteeing equitable access to all to the opportunities it has to offer. For this reason UNESCO and UN-HABITAT joined efforts in launching international comparative research together with international NGOs.

By the ‘Right to the City’ are meant a series of legitimate claims to the necessary conditions of a satisfying, dignified and secure existence in cities by both individual citizens and social groups. Throughout the year 2005 a group of international experts discussed the concept 'Right to the City' during various international meetings organized by UNESCO, UN-HABITAT and International NGOs.

On 18 March 2005, UNESCO and UN-HABITAT signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The Memorandum has committed the agencies to develop common approaches on the role of cities in the reduction of urban poverty, and to reinforce their collaboration on specific topics and common interests like the concept ‘Right to the City’.

The two UN organisations jointly organized meetings on urban policies and the 'Right to the City' in Barcelona (27-29 March 2006), at UNESCO headquarters in Paris (11-12 December 2006), and during Porto Alegre's World Conference on Inclusive Cities for the 21st Century (February 2008).

There have also been encouraging initiatives such as

  • the Charter of Educating Cities;
  • the European Charter for Safeguarding Human Rights in the City (2001);
  • the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life (2006);
  • the ‘City Statute’ of Brazil (2001);
  • the Montréal Charter of Rights and Responsibilities (2006); and
  • an international NGOs project of a ‘World Charter on the Right to the City’.

The cities of Barcelona (Spain) and Nantes (France) have been working on a 'World Charter for Safeguarding Human Rights in the City' within the World Forum of Human Rights. However, there is not yet an international consolidated approach to inclusive urban legislation and governance.

UNESCO and UN-HABITAT have worked together to launch international comparative research together with NGOs, including the International Association of Educating Cities (IAEC), Metropolis, and others, in view of forging consensus among all key actors, and in particular local authorities, on the constituent elements of public policy and legislation that combine urban development with social equity and justice.

To stimulate the development of international comparative research on this issue, an international Working Group and a UNESCO Chair on 'Urban Policies and Citizenship' have been established.

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