Abstract:

From the day they came to life until now, urban settlements have been the center of many political, social and economic changes. In time, besides the aim for providing common needs, cities have been defined as commercial, social and cultural spatial scales. From the early periods of the settlement history, cities, also with regards to the implementation of democracy, have been seen as the best scale. In the historical process, cities have preserved and developed their feature of being areas where democratic demands come to the fore. Moreover, the city administrations took part in the power struggle between the administrative powers. The diversity of meanings the city carries has caused it to become a center of attraction for different reasons, and it has transformed cities into destinations for migration from rural areas. This situation has led to the identification and increase of various unusual problems (employment, housing, etc.) at the urban scale. The concept of the right to the city has gained meaning as a human right caused by increasing social problems. In theory, the right to the city has begun to be included in the classifications made on basic human rights. In our study, the emergence of the right to the city is explained by connecting it to two parameters: globalization and neo-liberal policies. Both parameters are factors that trigger change and transformation on the city. It is not possible to evaluate them separately as positive or negative in terms of their outputs. However, what is certain is that these factors complicate the employment, housing, environment, climate change, health, etc. problems that arise in the city. The right to the city is a value added to the human rights literature under the influence of these factors. In our study, our analysis of the right to the city is based on the views of Henri Lefebvre, who used the concept for the first time, and David Harvey, who contributed to the development of the concept. In our study, which we aim to contribute to the literature, especially in terms of matching the right to the city with globalization; the concept of globalization is discussed; the concept of right to the city is analyzed theoretically; the place of the right to the city in human rights is discussed and the regulations regarding the right to the city in international texts are discussed. Especially in the last part, approaches to the right to the city in the texts of the UN and the Council of Europe, which are the two main institutions of the international community, are given.

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