Seeing human rights like a city: the prospects and perils of the ‘urban turn’

Natalia Ángel-Cabo and Luisa Sotomayor

Chapter 15 in Research Handbook on Human Rights and Poverty, 2026, pp 262-278 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter reflects on the potential of human rights approaches to poverty reduction from the perspective of the city. We ask what seeing like and from the citymay add to the longstanding debate about the promise of rights to produce social change. Contrary to the fierce critiques that dismiss altogether the relevance of human rights to confront the world's pressing problems, we recognize some of its contributions and identify how a view from the city might abet the global human rights project by politicizing it from the vantage point of urbanization. We also stress several limits for human rights to be able to confront pervasive poverty and rising inequality, particularly given the way neoliberal agendas currently operate in and through cities.

Keywords: Localized rights; Human rights; Urban inequality; Urban turn; Poverty reduction; Urban social movements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035350506
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