The right to the city is to be understood in three respects: the right to reside in the city and to enjoy effectively and properly this right; the possibility to participate and take part in decisions to improve the urban quality of life; and finally, the enforceability of such a right to other provisions contrary to it.
It therefore involves material (decent housing), socio-economic (earning), logistical and environmental conditions (“living in a beautiful, convenient, sound, environmental-friendly city”), but also political conditions (“recognition of the right of everyone […] to participate as a city-dweller […], as a city user, in decision-making and urban planning decisions”) and legal conditions (“the right to criticize one scheme, on the ground that the right to the city is not respected”) [1].
Urban democracy processes are therefore constitutive of the right to the city.