Barcelona Declaration calls for the democratization of cities through public space at Habitat III

New Urban Agenda
10 April 2016

The Barcelona Declaration will be the contribution of the Habitat III Thematic Meeting on Public Spaces to the New Urban Agenda that will be adopted in Quito in October.

 

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On 4 and 5 April, the City of Barcelona hosted one of ten Thematic Meetings being held to develop inputs to the New Urban Agenda. The meeting in Barcelona, which enjoyed active participation from representatives of local governments and civil society, focused on public space as a tool for guaranteeing the right to the city and democratizing social, economic, political and cultural relationships in urban areas.

Global Taskforce members co-organized two side events in the framework of the Thematic Meeting in Barcelona. The first, organized by the UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights with the Global Platform for the Right to the City, the UN High Commission for Human Rights and Habitat International Coalition was on the place of homeless people in the New Urban Agenda. The meeting resulted in a declaration (in Spanish) of recommendations for the New Urban Agenda on the rights of homeless people in the New Urban Agenda.

The UCLG Strategic Planning Committee, UCLG and Metropolis organized a side event on the role of local government in public spaces with UN Habitat. The session saw participants from Durban, Porto Alegre, the Province of Barcelona and Bogotá share their experience of governing public spaces and of peer-to-peer learning initiatives on this issue.

The result of the Thematic Meeting, the Barcelona Declaration, was described by the Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, Gerardo Pisarello, as a “citizen declaration”, based on broad participation from civil society.

The Declaration is based on four pillars: public spaces as an agora of civic life and social interaction, the role of streets and public transport in reducing car use and improving sustainable mobility, public spaces as places where economic activity can be democratized and local production and consumption promoted, and affordable, adequate and sustainable housing as a human right.