Cities of opportunities. The right to the city

At the 7th World Urban Forum in Medellín, where I had the opportunity to participate in 2014, the concept of "right to the city" was consolidated. The city emerged as an opportunity for equity and equality of opportunities. The impact of the concept "right to the city" led some cities, such as Barcelona or Mexico City, for example, to adopt this term and, it has even been a widely used idea by some political parties. Specifically, the theoretical origin of the term lies in the contribution made by the Marxist philosopher Henri Lefebvre and is based on the premise that the capitalist model has had a negative impact on cities.

Is this really the case? What has had a more negative impact on cities, capitalism or globalization? Is one a consequence of the other? And the disruption of the global supply chain? And the covid pandemic? Is the famous word glocal true? Is everything that is global also local and vice versa?

I am very much in favor of the glocal concept. Since when we want to transform, we must locate this transformation in a specific location. When for the first time the United Nations refers to the right to the city in the New Urban Agenda document, in Quito 2016, and approves the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it demands their "localization". It is in this sense that I affirm that what is local is also global and that a global transformation can only be addressed if many local transformations occur.For this reason, I believe that the right to the city is multifaceted. Firstly, because citizenship is diverse and, fortunately, has multiple interests, and what may be a priority for some may not be for others. Secondly, because the right to the city for European citizens will hardly coincide with the expectation of the right to the city for the inhabitants of Soweto, a neighborhood in Johannesburg. Thirdly, because the city does not belong to the last neighbor to arrive, nor to the lifelong resident. The city is the complexity of the coexistence of diverse people with diverse interests and problems, it is the space that hosts the transformations of social values, the expression of protest and discontent, the scene of cultural, intellectual and avant-garde movements, but it is also the environment where we seek security, individual freedom, a space where our rights are respected and where we have opportunities for work, housing, learning, education, and progress in short.The city is mainly for the majority of citizens the space of daily life.

I believe that cities that have generated economic growth, favoring business, commercial, and tourist establishment, diversifying uses, that have been able to attract investments, that have generated jobs and have facilitated opportunities for progress and services so that their residents can develop their daily lives are balanced cities.

What is local is also global and a global transformation can only be addressed if many local transformations occur

This does not mean that they are not cities where inequalities do not exist. Unfortunately, the different economic crises have aggravated inequality and the main challenge for Catalan cities is to recover from the drop in activity after the pandemic, to become attractive again for investment, to maintain job opportunities and services for their citizens.Precisely, in moments like the current one, it is necessary for cities to develop strategic driving projects that prevent them from falling into decadence and abandonment. Each city should have one or more projectsflagshipwithin what I callCity StrategyProjects that incorporate sustainable development goals, that localize them in specific areas and zones, projects that incorporate technology, ecology, and work.Eco-digital cities arrivethat can offer many jobs. Let's be attentive!