The concept of the “right to the city” was first proposed by Henri Lefebvre in 1968 and has since become a cornerstone of critical urban studies. For Lefebvre, the right to the city does not simply mean the right to inhabit urban space; it also implies the right to participate actively in shaping and transforming urban life. This perspective emphasizes equitable participation in decisions affecting cities and equal access to the resources and opportunities that urban environments provide. In essence, the idea challenges the power structures that exclude certain groups from the benefits of urban development.
🏙️ Lefebvre argued that the right to the city should be understood as a collective claim, going beyond the traditional notion of urban citizenship tied to property ownership or consumption. He highlighted the importance of public space as a place for encounter, interaction, and political expression, where residents are not only users of the city but also creators of its social and spatial dynamics. In his view, urban space should function as a common good, accessible to all rather than controlled by those with greater economic or political power. David Harvey later expanded Lefebvre’s concept, arguing that the right to the city is fundamentally a human right.
In Rebel Cities, Harvey explains that contemporary cities are largely shaped by the forces of capital, leading to processes of accumulation by dispossession in which vulnerable populations are displaced or excluded. For Harvey, the right to the city is not merely the right to access urban space but the right to reshape it according to collective needs rather than market interests. The struggle for this right is therefore a struggle for a more just and democratic form of urbanization. ✊ Peter Marcuse further developed the concept from a more explicitly political perspective.
Marcuse argues that the right to the city implies a fundamental transformation of the power structures that control urban space. In his interpretation, the concept is not simply about improving living conditions within the existing system, but about changing the underlying rules that determine how cities are produced and governed. A central issue in debates about the right to the city is the exclusion of marginalized groups, including low-income populations, immigrants, and ethnic minorities, from the benefits of urban growth. These groups are often pushed to peripheral or underserved areas with limited access to infrastructure, public services, and economic opportunities.
In this sense, the right to the city represents a demand for urban justice and inclusion, challenging policies that reproduce segregation and displacement. In conclusion, the right to the city—originating with Lefebvre and expanded by thinkers such as Harvey and Marcuse—calls for a fundamental rethinking of how cities are designed and governed. Rather than spaces dominated by market forces and capital, cities should function as shared and democratic environments, where all residents have a voice and equitable access to the resources needed to live with dignity. This concept remains central to contemporary debates on urban justice and inclusive urban development.
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