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News (47)
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India: By Court, Forced Evictions Illegal |
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By :Rina Chandran, thisisplace.org |
| 20 March 2019 |
In a major victory for land rights campaigners, Delhi High Court ruled that forced evictions of slum dwellers without consultation or resettlement plans are illegal.
The Delhi High Court has ruled that forced and unannounced evictions of slum dwellers without consultations or resettlement plans are illegal, striking a major victory for
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HICtionary Newly Updated |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 06 May 2018 |
HIC-HLRN has just updated the HICtionary: Key Habitat Terms from A to Z. This reference work is the result of deliberation and debate across multiple specializations, regions and cultures within the membership of Habitat International Coalition (HIC). The purpose of that debate—and this reference work—have been to consolidate and harmonize
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USA: Trump Orders Air-quality Rules Degraded |
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By :Ledyard King, USA TODAY |
| 20 April 2018 |
President Trump directs EPA to ease air quality rules he says suffocates industry. EPA director Scott Pruitt confirmed that President Donald Trump will sign an executive order to roll back Obama-era power-plant environmental-protection regulations.
WASHINGTON—President Trump`s latest effort to boost the nation`s manufacturing sector is an industry-friendly rewrite of air quality
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Right to the City in Greater Beirut |
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By :HIC-HLRN and Amel Association |
| 14 April 2018 |
HLRN has just released its new publication Right to the City in Greater Beirut: Context Assessment in Light of the Refugee and Displacement Crisis. This assessment offers critical insight into municipal governance in Greater Beirut, a city largely formed and characterized by human migration through its history, while more recently
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Pakistan: Lahore City Evicts Slum Dwellers |
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By :Zeena T. Hashmi, The Nation (Karachi) |
| 07 February 2018 |
LDA’s forced eviction of Model Town slum dwellers is shocking, but not surprising. No one with a shred of shame can imagine such a thing happening in any democracy; but this is how the Lahore Development Authority works.
For the dwellers at Sector M, Model Town Extension, there have been many
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China: Beijing House Demolitions Spark Rare Street Protests |
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By :Emily Feng and Charles Clover, Financial Times |
| 12 December 2017 |
Aggressive Chinese eviction methods fuel anger among residents forced from rented homes
Fear and cold stalk the streets of Feijia, a north-eastern suburb of Beijing that is to be largely demolished on Friday, leaving hundreds of migrant families potentially homeless in winter.
Leaflets scattered across Feijia’s main street depict photos of masked
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Out of Africa: Human Rights Habitat Struggles |
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By :Marie Huchzermeyer, CUBES/Wits Univ. and Joseph Schechla, HLRN |
| 07 November 2017 |
From Africa to the World: Struggling for Human Rights to Housing, Land and the City
Mid-October 2017, Nairobi was host to an intense engagement on housing rights, social justice and the right to the city. This was amid political turmoil in Kenyan towns and cities, and unrelated to this but largely
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Quest for the Right to the City in Asia |
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By :Paulista Surjadi, Kota Kita (Indonesia) and Chandan Kumar, ActionAid India. |
| 15 September 2017 |
Asia is the biggest and most populous continent, also home to some of the fastest growing countries in the world such as India, China, Indonesia, and Malaysia. The continent consists of 48 countries and over 4 billion people, or half of the world’s total population. With this fact, it is
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African Struggles for the Right to the City |
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By :Allan Cain and Agnes Midi |
| 15 September 2017 |
Africa has some of the world’s most unequal cities.1 Informal settlements in African cities, and the struggles that are fought in their defense, are evidence of deep-rooted exclusion.2 They have inherited colonial segregated planning laws that are socio-economically exclusive, resulting in cement cities and slums. In many African former colonial
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UNHRC Resolution Links Human Rights to NUA |
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By :Gregory Scruggs, Citiscope |
| 27 July 2017 |
UN resolution seen as key win for New Urban Agenda’s contentious rights language
A new resolution from the United Nations’ top human rights body is being lauded by supporters in part because it solidifies contentious new language included in last year’s New Urban Agenda strategy on sustainable urbanization.
The UN Human Rights
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“Spotlight” on UN High-Level Forum, SDGs |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 10 July 2017 |
As the UN High-Level Forum opens in New York, a global civil society report spotlights the role of big business in hindering development and deepening economic and social disparity.
Unbridled privatization, corporate capture and mass-scale tax abuse are blocking progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, argues a new report by a
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NUA Reporting in 2018 Crucial |
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By :Gregory Scruggs, Citiscope |
| 11 May 2017 |
2018 reporting period will prove critical for New Urban Agenda, advocates say
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NAIROBI—Although 2017 is not yet halfway over, advocates for the New Urban Agenda on sustainable cities already are looking to next year as critical for embedding the agreement aims among national governments.
That’s because the recent Habitat III conference set
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Indonesia: Crisis of Bukit Duri Residents |
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By :Edith Koesoemawiria, Mongabay |
| 13 February 2017 |
JAKARTA — Six weeks after the last of the Bukit Duri evictees moved into their new dwellings here in the Indonesian capital, the atmosphere was friendly but painful. Some tenants told jokes at the food stall in the parking lot. The cook, also a former Bukit Duri resident, had initially
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Why Pope Francis Keeps Reaching out to Mayors |
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By :Simone d`Antonio, Citiscope |
| 27 January 2017 |
VATICAN CITY—When the Pope calls you to Rome, you go.
Dozens of mayors from around the world heeded the call in 2015, when Pope Francis invited them to the Vatican to discuss actions their cities could take against climate change and human trafficking. And it happened again last month, when Francis
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“Sanctuary Cities” Defy Trump Threats |
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By :Spencer Buell, Boston Daily |
| 25 January 2017 |
Boston, Somerville mayors defiant after trump’s sanctuary city orders. Marty Walsh and Joe Curtatone say they won’t back down amid threats of federal funding cuts.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Somerville Mayor Joe Curatone took a stand against Donald Trump Wednesday after the president announced a blockbuster executive order to target so-called
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Trump Can’t Force Cities to Deport |
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By :Erwin Chemerinsky, Annie Lai and Seth Davis, The Washington Post |
| 22 January 2017 |
Cities and public universities are exercising their constitutional authority when they declare themselves “sanctuaries” in response to Donald Trump’s vow to deport 2 million to 3 million immigrants upon taking office next month. Trump has threatened to force state and local governments to implement his deportation policies, including by taking
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USA: Homeless Camps Offering Democracy Lesson |
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By :Patrick Strickland, Al Jazeera |
| 04 November 2016 |
Overlooked in the elections, Portland’s homeless are organising their own camps on their own terms, but fear evictions.
PORTLAND, Oregon—When Marge Pettitt`s seven-year-old daughter broke down in tears in a homeless shelter in 2009, she made one of the hardest decisions of her life: Sending the child to live with her
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After Habitat III, What’s Next? |
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By :Gregory Scruggs, Citiscope |
| 21 October 2016 |
Official and unofficial mechanisms are quickly falling into place to follow and prod implementation of the New Urban Agenda.
Habitat III participants walk past wall displays of text from the New Urban Agenda. Quito, 18 October. (Habitat III Secretariat)
QUITO—After four intense days of the United Nations’ Habitat III conference on the
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Implementing the Right to the City |
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By :Emilio Godoy, Citiscope |
| 20 October 2016 |
So how do we implement the ‘right to the city’, anyway? Many were surprised last month when negotiations on the New Urban Agenda kept the term in the final document. Now, efforts have been made at this week’s Habitat III conference to try to explain what this means on the
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Alternative Forums outside of Habitat III |
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By :Gregory Scruggs, Citiscope |
| 14 October 2016 |
Even as governments adopt the New Urban Agenda next week, multiple groups plan protests and contrary discussions.
A large crowd gathers at the Urban Social Forum in Rio de Janeiro, which took place as an alternative to the World Urban Forum in March 2010. More such events are expected at next
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The “Four Rs and Four Ps” |
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By :Christopher Swope, Citiscope |
| 06 August 2016 |
How Seberang Perai’s first female mayor is reducing waste and boosting citizen engagement
You’ve heard of the “Three Rs” — reduce, reuse and recycle. And there’s “PPPs” — public-private partnerships.
Dato’ Maimunah Mohd Sharif puts a twist on both of these phrases. She likes to talk of the “Four Rs” and the
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Toward Responsible Land Governance in LAC Region |
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By :GLTN |
| 04 August 2016 |
An Experts Group Meeting – EGM was organized to review and feedback the first report of the Scoping Study. More than 30 representatives from public and private sectors, CSOs, academia, international development agencies, social leaders and activists from all over the region were gathered on July14-15 2016 in San José,
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HIC Addresses Habitat III PrepCom3 |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 27 July 2016 |
The “New Urban Agenda,” from its inception, is inconsistent with historic agreements, today’s global priorities and the “world we need.” Particular interests have narrowed the Habitat Agenda to urban priorities, subordinated rural areas and ignored issues of forced migration, presuming that urbanization is “inevitable” and beyond human will or policy
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HIC/GPR2C Statement on the New Habitat Agenda |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 29 June 2016 |
Speaking on behalf of Habitat International Coalition, in partnership with the Global Platform on the Right to the City, HIC President Lorena Zárate delivered the following statement at intergovernmental negotiations at UN Headquarters, New York, 29 June 2016.
[check against delivery]
“Thank you Mr Chair for this opportunity to address the distinguish
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HIC Responds to Habitat III’s Revised Zero Draft |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 28 June 2016 |
The following are Habitat International Coalition`s comments on the revised zero draft of the Habitat III outcome documents, submitted to the Habitat III Secretariat on 28 June 2016:
Habitat International Coalition was born out of, and—for two generations now—has faithfully upheld the Habitat Agenda as a cornerstone of its global platform.
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Brazil: CSOs Speak out on Habitat III |
| 31 May 2016 |
Brazilian civil society organizations, gathered in São Paulo on 31 May 2016, came out the present statement to express themselves about the content of what UN-Habitat leadership and the Habitat III Secretariat are calling the “New Urban Agenda” (NUA), to be adopted at the first scheduled UN Conference on Housing
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European Housing Rights Coalition Calls for Action |
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By :European Action Coalition for the Right to Housing and to the City |
| 07 May 2016 |
Defend the Right to Housing and to the City
Call for International Action
Amsterdam, 28–30 May
Join the international action and confront the meeting of the 23 EU housing ministers.
Don`t let them talk behind closed doors about the future of our cities!
On the last weekend of May, the housing ministers of all EU
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"Right to the City" Movement Goes Global |
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By :Francesca Perry, The Guardian |
| 19 April 2016 |
Right to the city: can this growing social movement win over city officials?
From the Taksim Square and Nuit Debout protests to bank takeovers in Barcelona and women’s workshops in Delhi, the pressure for more inclusive cities is mounting. As the UN gears up for Habitat III, will governments listen?
On
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Paris: Voice of the Suburbs |
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By :Widad, Al Jazeera English |
| 01 March 2016 |
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Migration Meets Hamburg: Right to the City |
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By :Plenums des Hamburger Recht auf Stadt-Netzwerks |
| 09 February 2016 |
As in many others cities of Europe, refugees meet both welcome and opposition. One such opposition militates against providing humane and decent housing for refugees in Hamburg. Local reports tell how the anti-refugee trend is voiced louder and louder every week, even in the middle class. A new alliance of
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HLRN-India Launches Habitat III Status Report |
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By :HLRN-India |
| 05 February 2016 |
New Delhi—On Friday, Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) launched its first Habitat III country report titled, Housing and Land Rights in India: Status Report for Habitat III. The United Nations (UN) Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III)—the third bidecennial international conference on habitat issues—will be held
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HIC-critics on Habitat III Policy Papers |
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By :HIC |
| 05 February 2016 |
Since the very early stages of the Habitat III preparations, Habitat International Coalition (HIC) has called for the integrity of the Habitat II (1996) commitments and modalities; this demand has three related aspects:
• Processes must uphold the Habitat II-established principle to be as inclusive as possible;
• Maintain the Habitat Agenda,
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Habitat III Sins of Omission |
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By :Habitat for People - Not for Profit! |
| 01 February 2016 |
Today, a movement of concerned partners engaged in the Habitat III preparations issued a public challenge to the organizers of the global process, calling on them to rethink the omissions and design flaws that narrow the Habitat III public debate and presuppose its outcomes. From the beginning of the deliberative and reporting
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Human Rights and the New Habitat Agenda |
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By :Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur Newsletter |
| 22 October 2015 |
In her second report to the UN General Assembly, Leilani called on States to include a human rights framework in the development of the New [Habitati] Agenda, to be adopted at the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (also known as Habitat III), October 2016 in Quito, Ecuador.
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Pope Francis: “Rights to housing, land and city” |
| 25 September 2015 |
In his public appearance in New York City this week, Pope Francis delivered a spiritual message, but also addressed a bundle of corresponding human rights. Not least of these were the “three Ls”: lodging, land and labor. He also contextualized these essential elements of human dignity and human rights with
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NYC Coop Plan for Affordable Real Estate |
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By :Cat Johnson, Shareable |
| 24 September 2015 |
Faced with the rising rents of commercial properties in cities, one New York organization is modeling a way for people to invest in permanently affordable, commercial real estate. The New York City Real Estate Investment Cooperative (REIC) leverages patient crowdfunding—small investments by a large number of people over time—to turn
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Right to the City and Yerevan’s Construction “Doom” |
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By :Garin Boghossian, Armenia Weekly |
| 16 September 2015 |
The growth path of urbanization under capitalism is devouring the city of Yerevan. Luxurious high-rise hotels and residential towers, serving tourists and seasonal dwellers, are replacing Soviet social housing blocks that once lodged the ordinary Yerevantsis. The house where the president of the First Republic, Aram Manougian, lived and died—now
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Vision Critical in City Planning |
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By :David Dodwell, South China Morning Post |
| 09 September 2015 |
Cities: love them or hate them, they are likely to be the future for most of our children. Developed well, they can provide high quality of life and convenience – and huge environmental efficiencies. But developed poorly, they create a blight that will take decades to eradicate.
Today, 55 per cent
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To All Europe Cities "Open Doors to Refugees" |
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By :Ian Mount , fortune.com |
| 08 September 2015 |
The question now is how much city governments will be able to accomplish until there is a commitment at the national and EU levels.
As August rolled to a close, Barcelona’s new left-wing mayor Ada Colau posted an emotional plea on her Facebook feed. Decrying the hundreds of migrants drowned in
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The Refugees and Imaginative Urban Planning |
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By :Jane Paulick, Deutsche Welle |
| 05 September 2015 |
Not only politicians are looking for solutions to ease the refugee crisis. Architects are also devising ways to integrate new arrivals that avoid ghettos arising on city limits while also fostering urban regeneration.
One fixture in the pictures that went round the world in the recent week of violent clashes outside
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Habitat II Baby, Habitat III Bathwater |
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By :Joseph Schechla, Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land Rights Network |
| 10 August 2015 |
The substantive debate toward the 2016 Habitat III Conference is warming up. The disappointment that states earlier expressed at PrepCom2 (Nairobi, April 2015) for slow progress in producing the draft material for the outcome document has subsided. The rich content of 22 Issue Papers, so far, has superseded some of
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Fractured Continuity: Habitat II to Habitat III |
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By :Joseph Schechla, CitiScope |
| 10 August 2015 |
Wading through the knowledge products of the current Habitat process highlights a failure to account for previous commitments. HIC-HLRN’s Joseph Schechla critiques the process and content of Habitat III against the criteria forged at Habitat II.
* * *
The substantive debate toward next year’s Habitat III conference is now warming up.
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German CSO Forum Addresses Habitat III |
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By :Forum on Environment & Development |
| 31 July 2015 |
The German Forum on Environment & Development was founded in 1992 after the UN conference in Rio on environment and development. Its purpose is to coordinate German NGOs in international political processes on sustainable development. It was strongly involved in the preparation and the civil society processes of the Habitat
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HIC Reviews Habitat III Issue Papers |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 31 July 2015 |
Habitat International Coalition has just issued its compilation of inputs from Members and officers following their review of the Habitat III Issue Papers. The 22 thematic contributions from technical experts selected by the UN-Habitat/Habitat III Secretariat have been drafted as a framework for the debate leading up to the Third
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Who Has the Right to Live in London? |
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By :Carlos Delclós and Rosie Walker, Open Democracy.net |
| 22 May 2015 |
Renters’ Rights London aims to provide the tools and knowledge renters need to defend themselves from unfair treatment and campaign for more rights. We speak with coordinator, Rosie Walker.
In a recent study, Brookings Institute economist Matthew Rognlie challenged Thomas Piketty’s now well-known assertion that inequality is being driven by the
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Human Rights Cities Meet at Gwangju |
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By :HIC-HLRN |
| 17 May 2015 |
Gwangju, Republic of Korea—The Human Rights City of Gwangju, Republic of Korea played host to the 5th World Human Rights Cities Forum 2015, 15–18 May 2015. The gathering convened under the theme “Toward a Global Alliance of Human Rights Cities for All,” showcased the Asian experience of democratic governance, while
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The Right to the City: Jerusalem |
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By :Joseph Schechla |
| 26 October 2014 |
HIC-HLRN has produced a new report from an ongoing study on the prospects of realizing the principles of the “right to the city” for specific cities in several regions.
This report finds that applying the "right to the city" in Jerusalem challenges the current governance grounded in discrimination against, and dispossession of
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