The right to the city: A theoretical concept and an illuminating idea for the realization of the urban society

Costa, Geraldo

In his “Theses on the City, the Urban and Planning”, Lefebvre says the following about rights which define civilization (rights in general): “These rights which are not well recognized, progressively become customary before being inscribed into formalized codes. They would change reality if they entered into social practice: the right to work, to training and education, to health, housing, leisure, to life. Among these rights in the making features the right to the city”. About planning and social practice Lefebvre says: “The realization of urban society calls for a planning oriented towards social needs, those of urban society. It necessitates a science of the city (of the relations and correlations in urban life). Although necessary, these conditions are not sufficient. A social and political force capable of putting these means into oeuvres is equally indispensable”[1]. My intention in this joint session is to reflect about these two passages of Lefebvre´s thought around the concept (and the idea, I would say) of the right of the city. I will discuss at least two dimensions related to this concept/idea: 1) The content of the Brazilian Urban Reform Movement which adopts the idea of the right to city as an illuminating guide for an urban practice that has housing as a central question. 2) The risk of narrowing (trivializing, corrupting, banalizing?), in the academic milieu, the real meaning of “the right to the city”, as a central concept for the discussion about the possibility of the “urban”, the urban society. I would argue that this is in part due to the strength that the urban political economy approach has in that milieu.

[1] Kofman, Eleonore; Lebas, Elizabeth (Eds.). Writings on Cities, Henri Lefebvre. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996, p. 178 and 179

212.5 The right to the city: A theoretical concept and an illuminating idea for the realization of the urban society