The right to the city is conceptualized not as access to urban resources but as a collective political claim to shape urban life, institutions, and space itself. It involves the democratization of urban governance, the reappropriation of public space, and the redefinition of citizenship beyond legal status—rooted in presence, participation, and struggle. This right is not granted but enacted, often through protest, occupation, and grassroots organizing. Rather than viewing urban space as neutral, the city is seen as a terrain of power, where exclusions are spatialized—through policing, zoning, displacement, or invisibilization. The right to the city challenges these exclusions by asserting that urban inhabitants—especially the marginalized—have a right not only to dwell, but to transform the city in accordance with their needs, histories, and aspirations. Importantly, this vision is not utopian in the escapist sense; it is grounded in conflict, dissent, and everyday practices of re-making space. It calls for a rethinking of planning, design, and policy as arenas of contestation rather than technical administration. The city becomes a space of political becoming, where new forms of subjectivity, solidarity, and commons emerge.
Grey, M. (2018). ‘The Right to the City: Critical Theory and the Urban Question’. Theory in Action, 11(4), pp. 43–62.
