HIC and GPR2C submitted its responses to Karima Bennoune’s questionnaire, United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, for its upcoming report to the General Assembly: Cultural rights and public space.

This report will explore  how actors from across the cultural ecosystem access and use public spaces, identify the challenges they face and the strategies they develop to overcome them, and analyse the impact this has on their cultural rights.

In particular, we highlight:

  • That all public spaces must be truly public; owned and accessible for all, by all.
  • The grave threat to the right to the city posed by the privatisation of public space, and the proliferation of pseudo-public spaces
  • The role of public spaces, not only as cultural spaces, but as political and economic spaces that must be truly equitable

We hope that this will be a valuable contribution and advance the cause of ensuring that all public spaces contribute to a  right to the city in a human rights-habitat.

Read the full responses here!