An international seminar analyses urban problems and the right to the city proclaimed by the United Nations
From October 16 to 18, a series of international conferences at the Faculty of Law analyzed the current state of the development of the New Urban Agenda, a paper approved last December by the General Assembly of the United Nations. This meeting, organized by TransJus Research Institute, in collaboration with the United Nations program UN-Habitat, covered issues such as the environment, housing or urban governance, with the participation of scholars and people related to urban planning in several countries of the world, especially from the Ibero-American field.
From October 16 to 18, a series of international conferences at the Faculty of Law analyzed the current state of the development of the New Urban Agenda, a paper approved last December by the General Assembly of the United Nations. This meeting, organized by TransJus Research Institute, in collaboration with the United Nations program UN-Habitat, covered issues such as the environment, housing or urban governance, with the participation of scholars and people related to urban planning in several countries of the world, especially from the Ibero-American field.
The opening of the activity was carried out by the dean of the Faculty of Law Xavier Pons; Juli Ponce, director of TransJus, and André Luiz Freitas, lecturer from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil) and academic coordinator of the program Polos de Ciudadania. Among other topics, the meeting talked about concepts such as the right to the city or the idea of resilient cities, and analysed issues such as urban governance and fight against corruption. One of the speakers was the public defender of the city of Buenos Aires, Horacio Corti, who spoke about the right in the city, access to justice and public budget. The closing ceremony was carried out by the UN-Habitat chief executive, Joan Clos.
Within the frame of the conferences, the registrar and adjunct lecturer of the UB Fernando P. Méndez gave the book presentation of Derecho a la vivienda y function social de la propiedad. Nuevas políticas públicas en el marco del servicio public de alojamiento, edited by Thomson Reuters Aranzadi and the Colegio de Registradores de la Propiedad, coordinated by UB lecturers Josep M. Moltó -who took part in the presentation- and Juli Ponce.
The New Urban Agenda of the United Nations comes from Habitat III, the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development that took place in Quito (Ecuador) a year ago. In its statement, it calls for “cities and fair human settlements, which are secure, healthy, accessible, affordable, resilient and sustainable”, related to what the same paper calls “right to the city”. More than half the world population is currently living in cities, and figures are expected to reach the 66 % by 2050.