Michele Grigolo - The Human Rights City

We are used to thinking of human rights as a matter for state governments to deal with. Much less investigated is the question of what cities do with them, even though urban communities and municipalities have been discussing human rights for quite some time.

In this volume, Grigolo borrows the concept of the human rights city to invite us to think about a new urban utopia: a place where human rights strive to guide urban life. By turning the question of the meaning and use of human rights in cities into the object of critical investigation, this book tracks the genesis, institutionalisation and implementation of human rights in cities, focussing on New York, San Francisco and Barcelona.

Touching also upon matters such as womens rights, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights and migrant rights, The Human Rights City emphasises how human rights can serve urban justice but also a neoliberal practice of the city. This book is a useful resource for scholars and students interested in fields such as Sociology of Human Rights, Sociology of Law, International Law, Urban Sociology, Political Sociology and Social Policies.

Michele Grigolo is a lecturer in Sociology at Nottingham Trent University, UK.

For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Advances-in-Sociology/book-series/SE0511

First published 2019

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

2019 Michele Grigolo

The right of Michele Grigolo to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Names: Grigolo, Michele, author.

Title: The human rights city / Michele Grigolo.

Description: 1 Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2019. | Series: Routledge advances in sociology | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018051767 | ISBN 9781138644892 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315628530 (eBook)

Subjects: LCSH: Human rights. | Urban policy. | Municipal government.

Classification: LCC JC571 .G7828 2019 | DDC 323.09173/2dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018051767

ISBN: 978-1-138-64489-2 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-62853-0 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by codeMantra

This book is a turning point in a long journey I have undertaken in the study of human rights and cities. Research used for this book has benefitted from funding from the European Commission, the Spanish Government, the European University Institute (Florence), the Portuguese Federation of Science and Technology and Nottingham Trent University. I am thankful to Andrea Gattini, Antonio Papisca, Michael Keating, Virginie Guiraudon, Yasemin Soysal and Lydia Morris for their feedback and support over the years, before and after the realisation of this book. I am grateful to Giuseppe Allegretti, Laura Centemeri, Mihaela Mihai and Mathias Thaler and Boaventura de Sousa Santos and the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra for helping me shape and refine the sociological lens that informs this book. I would like to thank Eva Chueca for the opportunity to connect my research to practice, starting from the Inclusive Cities project of United Cities and Local Governments. Nottingham Trent University should get the final credit for supporting me during the realisation of this book over busy academic years and in particular Jason Pandya-Wood, Azrini Wahidin, Simon Holdaway, Robert Dingwall, Eric Baumgartner, James Hunter and Kate Stewart.

I am especially grateful to Barbara Oomen and Martha Davis for sharing with me the pleasure and challenge of editing the contributions to the volume Global Urban Justice: The Rise of Human Rights Cities, where some ideas fully developed in this book were originally put forward.

A number of other people, dear colleagues as well as friends, have stimulated ideas that have now found full expression in this book or simply made my life pleasant and more bearable while I was doing research and completing this book. They know who they are. I am especially thankful to Alice, Martina, Elena, Peppe, Costanza and Mathias M\xF6schel. Thank you Mike, Mark, Stefanie, Sharon, Sarah, Frances and Ian for being around in the office, for the chatting and laughing, and your encouragement.

I would like to thank Martha Davis and Alice Mattoni for commenting on specific chapters of this book. Their insights into the structure and content of this book have been very helpful and highly appreciated.

I am extremely grateful to the many people in New York, San Francisco and Barcelona who opened the doors of their organisations and spent time with me explaining their work. Among these, I wish to mention Patricia Gatling, Emily Murase, Krishanti Dharmaraj, Jaume Saura, Aida Guilln, Rosa Bada, Roser Veciana, Agust Soler, Guadalupe Pulido Gustavo Czech-Bergtholt Tejeria and Cristina Monteys. I am especially grateful to the director and staff of the Barcelona Office for Non-Discrimination for the warm support they have provided to this research through the years. I hope this book, while reflecting my ideas, does justice to their work.

Responsibility for misleading interpretations and factual mistakes in the book is solely of the author.

Finally, I wish to thank my family for their support over the years, and especially my parents who make me feel home again every time I visit them.