2 Junho 2007 Seminário 3: Direitos Humanos e Acesso ao Direito e à Justiça

1. 2 Junho 2007 Seminário 3: Direitos Humanos e Acesso ao Direito e à Justiça “InterpretingtheRight to theCity in theEuropeancontext”Giovanni Allegretti and Eva Garcia ChuecaCentro de Estudos Sociais, Universidade de Coimbra; CISDP/CGLU

2. We tried a collective effort of networking to value this preliminary research as an opportunity to debate among different actors and catch at least small hints of the huge diversity of interpretations throughout a continent and its different models of capitalisms (Gøsta Esping-Andersen, 1990).

3. A small semple of differences…

4. A continente when right to adequate housing has been a central issue since the end of XIX Century

5. The main general questions: 1) What is the right to the city? The adopted concept • “Human rights in the city” and the “rights of cities” are the concepts mostly used in Europe (mainly by regional governmental institutions – i.e. Council of Europe - and local governments). • The right to the city has recently been used by social movements (i.e. Hamburg and Istanbul), but mainly as a political slogan, rather than an operational tool able to be translated into concrete proposals. • In some contexts (the UK, Eastern Europe) there are still resistances to its use within social struggles, while it is used in the academic milieu

6. The main general questions 2) What principles and components are considering related the right to the city? • Citizen participation / direct democracy • Defense of Commons • Social, economic and cultural rights • Right to housing (and change of urban models) • Ownership of public spaces by citizens • (Collective land use) • (Environmental protection and landscape evolutions)

7. The main general questions • 3) How is the implementation the right to the city in the city or country surveyed? The legal framework , main tools, public policies to advance the right to the city? • • European Legal Framework: • Council of Europe: European Charter for Local Self-Government (1985); Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at Local Level (1992); European Urban Charter I and II (1992 and 2008) • Human Rights Cities Movement: European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City (2000) • UCLG: World Charter-Agenda of Human Rights in the City (2011)

8. The main general questions • 3) How is the implementation the right to the city in the city or country surveyed? • • Specific policies/tools in Spain (1): • o Main tool: European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City (2000) • o Public policies (local level): • creation of Municipal Human Rights Departments • creation of municipal human rights services (i.e. Office f or Non-Discrimination; Office of Religious Affairs; Office for Foreign Newcomers, etc.) • adoption of municipal by-laws on citizen participation • adoption of municipal human rights charters • creation of sectorial participatory bodies

9. The main general questions • 3) How is the implementation the right to the city in the city or country surveyed? • • Specific policies/tools in Spain (2): • establishment of local ombudsman, • approval of human rights-related plans or programs (accessibility, social housing construction, health, etc.) • setting of Human Rights Observatory • establishment of tax benefits for certain groups or certain goods • establishment of social and/or environmental clauses in public procurement procedures or grant provision rules • establishment of land reserves for social purposes (residential services for the handicapped or the elderly, kindergarten…)

10. The main general questions • 3) How is the implementation the right to the city in the city or country surveyed? • • Specific policies/tools in Spain (3): • aware-raising initiatives • human rights dissemination, • human rights training • signature of conventions with the private sector (i.e. to avoid cut-offs of electricity or water to vulnerable groups,…) • Highest rate of signatory cities of the European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City (40% of the total; 90% of which are located in the province of Barcelona).

11. Most relevant experiences: • * City of Barcelona: Civil Rights Department, Office for Non Discrimination, Office of Religious Affairs, local ombudsman, awareness raising, Human Rights Observatory, Barcelona Charter of Rights and Responsibilities • * Barcelona Provincial Government -Diputació de Barcelona-: technical support; Network of Human Rights Cities and Villages; exchange of experiences; awareness raising; human rights mainstreaming and institutionalization; human rights diagnosis, strategic planning and monitoring. • Main challenges: lack of knowledge of the charter among citizens and local administrations; used as an inspiration, but not as tool to conceive human rights local policies; lack of human rights mainstreaming and institutionalization; lack of strong political will; lack of financial resources; lack of social lobbying. Spain

12. 3) How is the implementation the right to the city in the city or country surveyed? • • Specific policies/tools in Italy (1): • o Main references: European Covenant of Landscape (2000); Lisbon Treaty • Use of referendum against privatization • Public policies (local level): • Important “experimental role” of local authorities (neomunicipalism) • creation of Municipal Participation Departments • creation of registers for recognizing gay couples • creation of Councilors in charge of “commons” • adoption of municipal by-laws on citizen participation • adoption of municipal charters on the management of commons • creation of agreements with squatter movements for regularizing occupied spaces (often fragile) The main general questions

13. The main general questions • 3) How is the implementation the right to the city in the city or country surveyed? • • Specific policies/tools in Italy (2): • establishment of local ombudsman (on several issues) • approval of human rights-related plans or programs (accessibility, social housing construction, health, etc.) • setting of Thematic Observatory • establishment of tax benefits for certain groups or certain goods • establishment of social and/or environmental clauses in public procurement procedures or grant provision rules • establishment of land reserves for social purposes (residential services for the handicapped or the elderly, kindergarten…) • use of local referenda

14. The main general questions • 3) How is the implementation the right to the city in the city or country surveyed? • • Specific policies/tools in Italy (3): • aware-raising initiatives (on environment, energy, recycling, etc..) • human rights dissemination and training • experiments for facilitating self-building and co-housing • sustainable cities for children initiatives • experiments of some boroughs for requisition of empty houses • Experimental villages for gypsies/nomadic groups • signature of conventions with the private sector (i.e. to avoid cut-offs of electricity or water to vulnerable groups,…) • Few signatory cities of the European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City, but several

15. LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES on PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY and CIRCULAR SUBSIDIARITY as a KEY for a new societyofrights (Italy)… REGIONAL LAWS 69/2007 and 46/2013 in Tuscany (onParticipation)

16. Specific questions: • What are the existing debates around the theme of the right to the city and the international, national and local letters and documents related to the theme? • The main debates within the international networks are related to: • the European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City • to the debates on the “rights of the cities”, centered in documents about subsidiarity and decentralization, as the European Charter for Local Self-Government (1985) and its2009 extension about the right of citizens to participate in local public affairs, and Lisbon Treaty (2009) which substituted the European Constitution strengthening the control of EU Parliament on the commission. • In the academic world, an important reference is the European Covenant of Landscape (2000) and its references about the land-consuming. • Debates about citizens participation as the White Book on Governance, or the article 11.4 of LisbonTreaty, thatrecognizestheright to theEuropeanCitizensInitiative(1 millionsignatures). • Debates on “collectivelandproperty” in severalcountries in front of thethreath of a fastprivatization of theselands. • Other local and national debates related to Right to Housing and relief of family debts, especially in relation to the Housing Bubble and the Legge Casa, in Italy.

17. RURAL COMMONS as an inspiring source for debating about the risk of “communitarism” as a space for exclusion.

18. II. What are the initiatives developed by non-governmental organizations, social movements, networks and civil society organizations, identifying the processes that they encounter in relation the implementation the right to the city? • European Cooperation Network on Housing and the City • Defense of Collective Lands (UsiCivici, Polders, Baldios etc.) in different countries • European Initiative for a Charter on Commons • Plataforma de los AfectadosporlasHipotecas (PAH), in Spain • Movements for the Defense of Public Water and Network about Cities as a Common Good, in Italy • Cultural initiatives and several projects of law by Eddyburg website and “SocietádeiTerritorialisti” (in the professional realm), Italy • Slow Food and Democracy KM0 networks’ campaign, in Italy • Right to the City Network in Germany (mainly in Hamburg) • Taksim Square and Gezi Park revolts, in Istanbul (Turkey) • Network of Community Land Trust (the UK) • Land Value Taxation campaign and Labour Land Campaign (the UK) • People Assembly Against Austerity (the UK) Specific questions:

19. ONE EXAMPLE: SPAIN Fight for the right to housing and against evictions: Affected by Mortgages Platform (Plataforma de Afectadospor la Hipoteca) Background: macroeconomic and employment scheme based on real state construction; high financial speculation on real property; massive access to mortgages to buy houses; 2008 economic crisis; unemployment and economic slowdown; mortgage non-payments = evictions. PAH’s mission: stop evictions, foster social rental and payment in-kind, and provide legal counselling to affected families and individuals, transforming victims into militants- Main PAH accomplishments: popular legislative initiative for a new law regulating the suspension of evictions, social rental and payment in-kind; “Stop Evictions” campaign; PAH social work; motions signed by local governments. International acknowledgement.

20. ANOTHER EXAMPLE: ITALY “Commons” as another key-word for approaching the Right to the City? Between initiaves of reclaiming / reappropriation and referenda…

21. RECONQUERING PUBLIC SPACE AS A COMMON: Local Bylaws 2011/2013, agréments withsquattermovementsand new StatuteofWaterAgency in Naples

22. The role of local/regional governments • Engaged intellectuals at the forefront of institutions. • Working close to social movement’s initiatives to offer “space for experimenting” and formalized (experimental) legal framework (Naples, Bologna, Messina, Venice) • Strong networking (especially during the Berlusconi • and Monti Government to unddrline that “another way is • possible. Memories of ald “municipalista tradition” • Institutionalizing participation as a “basic right” (Tuscany) • The role of social fabric • “Provoking” debates and action through squatting, public lectures, distribution of publications on The Right to the City. Second • generation of Social Squatted Centers • Sectorial battles (especially in the area of housing, water, public space) • A strong role of academia/militant reserachers; impulsing Referenda/Laws and networks Italy

23. Specific questions: • IV.  What are the tools and instruments related the right to the city  that can be used to guarantee direct citizen participation at the local and national levels?; What are the challenges to successful peoples’ participation? • Regional Laws for granting participation and spreading a new culture in administrative routines (Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Lazio in Italy; Andalusia in Spain) • Top-down incentives and support for local authorities (Malaga, Spain; Poland) • New Statutes for public agencies (subject to public control: ABC, Naples, Italy; LOGIPARC, Poitiers, France) and gratuity for public services (Aubagne, France) • V.  What mechanisms are essential for regularization of occupied areas, especially for low income populations, aimed to guarantee the right to adequate housing and, consequently, the right to the city? • This aspect is not taken in charge by our research. The only country having a Natioal Law for regularizing informal settlements is Portugal (Lei das AUGIs, 1995), while local experiences has been set – through municipal bylaws on “devolution to local consortia (Zone O or Toponimi) – in Rome (2002-2008). Some municipal by-laws (and a Regional Law of Lazio Region on Self-requalification) generated interesting pilot –experiences of agreement with groups of squatters for the management of central abandoned spaces.

24. Some city cases (if we have time)

25. Hamburg (Germany) • 2008: emergence of debates on the right to the city (Recht auf Stadt) • Relevant among experts and social movements, but not governments (be it national, regional or local). • Network fortheRight to thecity: Leipzig,Friburgo,Frankfurt,MuensterandPotsdam • The Right to the City Network in Hamburg: neoliberal urban development model; occupations in the 80s-90s to fight for social housing; 2008: 60 groups create the Right to the City Network; strong role of the cultural and artist community; heterogeneity of actors and of political strategies; • Accomplishments: the right to the city as a unifying flag of fragmented struggles, • Challenges: lack of knowledge about the meaning and tools of the right to the city (the right to the city as a slogan).

26. Istanbul (Turkey) Turkey: macroeconomic model based on urban growth and development. As a result of if, emergence of the debate on the right to the city in the last decade (media, blogs, websites, social mobilizations and gatherings) Istanbul: internationalization and neoliberalization; standardization of public spaces; privatization; gentrification; evictions. Taksim Square and Gezi Park, 2013: intense urban protests against an urban regeneration project affecting these two public spaces. Actors involved: professionals, trade unions, political parties, urban social movements, grassroots groups, and cultural and artistic organizations. Main values: diversity, public space ownership, self-government, anti-capitalist ideas. Proliferation of the protests in the whole country as a way to criticize the political, economic and moral order imposed by the government.

27. London (UK) • Cultural difficulties in accepting the Slogan • The isolation of academia (New Left Project articles, London School of Economics “LSECities” Centre) • Massive privatization of public housing (4,39 million between 198 and 2009) • Renters Movement and 2012 Urban Riots increased awareness • Dialogue with African and Southern Movements: • Pragmaticbattleslinked to speculation/gentrificationandhugedevelopments. • Collaborationbetween civil societyorganizationand some microlocalauthorities (boroughs) to take advantagesofbiginternationalevents • Winningbattlesbecome “legal precedentes” (OXO) • Challenges: Convergencie with Land Value Taxation campaign, the Labour Land Campaign and the People Assembly against Austerity

28. COMMUNITY LAND TRUST in Tower Hamlets: an urban “pilot” for a different future and a continuity with past utopias…. Community ownership of the land ensures it is protected from the inflationary pressures of the open market and that the price of homes can be linked to local income levels. Of the 252 homes, 51 will be made available for affordable rent at a level below 80% of the open market rent. 23 will be for sale at permanently affordable levels.

29. Serbia as a metaphor of the still-sleeping east? First revolts against huge speculative developments and Law for regulating informal

30. Open conclusions • Different names in different countries. The “name RtC” is not necessarily attractive in/for all contexts • The right to the city has only been used recently as a political flag, but rather as a slogan (mainly by social movements) than as a tool able to make propositions for enforcing rights. • Local governments committed to human rights in the city hardly go beyond political declarations or pilot-sectoral actions. Interesting cases of collaboration with social fabric organizations for trying to update the legal framework, in order to make innovations more sustainable. • Human rights in the city and the rights of the city: the two dimensions more widely used in Europe (within the debates of subsidiarity, which reproduce asymmetry between actors also at local level) • But the right to the city goes beyond both of them, and include communitarian dimensions and not only individual rights. The concept is slowly gaining space and networking capacities….

31. Thanks for your patience and attention! Questions are WELCOME… giovanni.allegretti@ces.uc.pteva.chueca@uclg.org