Implementing the Right to the City on the Ground: Theory, Tools and Real-life Examples

The Global Platform for the Right to the City (GPR2C) proposes a training on the Right to the City: how it can be identified in the guidelines and targets set out by the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the development and production of our cities in the next decades; and how already existing and future projects on the ground directed towards implementing and achieving such commitments can be framed within this concept.

Many of the ideas from the theoretical framework of the Right to the City are already present in the NUA guidelines and the targets for the SDGs, such as justice, equality, inclusiveness, safety, and sustainability, among others. However, many of these principles are somehow abstract for many professionals, public officials and other actors already implementing them on the ground but who do not necessarily connect their practice to the commitments included in such international agreements.

The GPR2C is an international network composed of international, regional, national and grassroots organizations, networks and academia, as well as local governments' organizations that has already been working towards raising awareness on the Right to the City worldwide. It promotes this concept as a new paradigm for urban policy in implementing the New Urban Agenda and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. It was closely involved with the processes prior to the signing of the Sustainable Development Goals and also the New Urban Agenda. Through its member organizations' and itself, GPR2C was actively involved in Communitas Coalition, pushing and advocating for sustainable cities, which resulted in its vital contributions through the Open Working Group, to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs - in particular SDG 11, related to cities. Not only that, but GPR2C was a strong network and advocacy force throughout Habitat 3 processes of drafting and adopting the New Urban Agenda, with a historical achievement of the recognition of the Right to the City in the 11th Article, and elements of the concept throughout the document.

The training event will contribute to the understanding of the commitments included in the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals by connecting them to the existing practice and collective knowledge around the Right to the City. This understanding will empower participants to demand the implementation of these commitments, therefore strengthening their work on the Right to the City.