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Research Group
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Mission Statement
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The Research Group is created to encourage the incorporation of human rights in the town planning debate. The town is rooted in the origin and nurturing of human rights, but this circumstance alone, - and irrespective of the reasons behind this - seems hitherto not to have been enough: neither as a subject of research nor as a motor for the renovation of urban practice. However, the town is the best arena for a genuine representation of rights. Here rights can find their space, their dimension and their history: their effective implementation.
In its day the Declaration of Human Rights was presented in the form of a temple, with its foundations, four columns and a pediment, over which the preamble and the 30 articles are conveniently distributed (the image belongs to René Cassin himself, one of the main creators of the whole process of consensus). This image is an attempt to convey the idea all the rights stated in the Declaration constitute an inseparable whole. At its base the general principles of freedom, equality, fraternity and absence of discrimination. The first column represents personal rights and liberties; the second the rights of the individual in relation to the groups to which he or she belongs; the third, stands for spiritual faculties, public liberties and fundamental political rights; and the fourth for economic, social and cultural rights. The pediment which crowns the temple refers to the relationship between the individual and the society.
As architects, we find this image intriguing, we must not be taken in by it. The temple is solid, but it has yet to be built: it is a temple under construction. From its very inception it was understood that the process of introduction and establishment of human rights would be a long and ambitious one. It could hardly be otherwise. These various rights are not something which can be finished once and forever. They are alive. For this very reason they have been subject to a continual process of concretisation, refinement and extension since their approval.
There have always been certain practical problems, problems of implementation. Extraordinary mechanisms of protection have been established and working groups on various subjects have been set up in order to receive individual complaints and manage them before the corresponding government. Yet there is a contradiction here. Almost all 185 member states of the United Nations were unanimous in accepting the text of the Declaration formally as part of their foreign policy. However, rhetoric apart, the fact is that, internally, within the borders of many of these countries the rights enshrined in the Declaration are still being violated. It is true that some of them are part of the general principles of law and of International and Common Law, and are obligatory in 185 states, beyond the treaties that they have been able to subscribe. However, there is a group of rights, such as the right to nationality, the right to free circulation, the right to seek asylum, and almost all those rights with an economic, social and cultural content, which have not yet been specified in treaties which determine their content. This means that the current Declaration of Rights exhibits an imbalance with respect to the manner in which the different rights are treated. Priority has been given to the development of civil and political rights, while the definition and application of economic, social and cultural rights has patently lagged behind. The Declaration of Vienna of 1993 reaffirmed the necessity to modify this situation and urged the international community to "treat human rights globally in a fair and equitable way, on an equal footing and to give them equal prominence."
This is the reason why the road ahead remains long. We understand, without any doubt, that the town (and also town planning, as an important part of urban policy) plays a very important role. It represents one of the basic instruments - if not the principal instrument for the materialisation of these rights, perhaps not to so great an extent with regard to civil rights (although this too), but rather in terms of economic and social rights. Its performance can even prove determinant for differences by favouring a decline, or promoting progress. Yet the town, although the cradle of the Law, has always maintained an ambiguous attitude with respect to its own development. It does not cease to promise a single law for everybody, yet very rarely delivers. The same happens in the area of town planning, which is also an area of promises without fulfilment.
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Functioning
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Length. The Research Group envisages having a limited lifespan of 10 years. It is to be created in 2003 and in 2013 it will review its future according to its results and its perspectives, being either dismantled or transformed into a new entity.
Activities.
1º) REPORTS ON VALLADOLID on human rights and town planning. Ten yearly reports with studies on the state of the question in different towns and parts of the world. Theoretical and practical studies which will be presented on 10 December. They will be published in Valladolid in Spanish and English ).
2º) CONGRESS ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND TOWNS OF THE WORLD. The congresses will take place each time in a different town of each continent. Each congress will have a specific subject which will characterize it.
3º) DOCUMENTATION CENTRE about human rights and town planning. Examples of good practice with regard to town planning will be collected from specific towns. The emphasis will be on examples of practices related to the application and generalization of human rights. Internet access will be provided.
4º) Studies for the drafting of an INTERNATIONAL CHARTER OF URBAN RIGHTS. Not only the right to settle, but also the broadest right to "have a town" - with its definition of objectives and standards, the consequence of a consensus on town planning for equality. We should indicate a definition of universal advantages, guaranteeing them all, as well as universal protection of environment. It would have to establish minimum universal rules linked to the idea of cosmopolitan citizenship. It should strive to extend certain technological or legal conquests to the whole planet, promoting the universalization of certain obligations and protecting certain rights.
5º) The setting up of an INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION to promote human rights based town planning. An international and representative institution which will contribute to the creation of a definitive version of the previous document and take on its defence. An international association of citizen bodies, defending the universal right of settlement in order to increase the defence of human rights in towns and reinforce a certain way of understanding town planning. It is not a new bureaucracy but rather a cosmopolitan group in which individuals, civil groups, inter-state organizations and towns, through their town halls can communicate directly with each other.
The Research Group works to a sets of rules approved by the University of Valladolid. The costs of functioning and of the Documentation Centre will be financed with the contributions from the members which, accoding to the University laws, may be asidned. Each of reports and congresses will have a specific mode of funding, with public or private aids.
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Members
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Any person who belongs to the university community can be a member of the Institute (lecturers, students, administrative personal), as well as professionals and town planning enthusiasts, who are interested in its objectives.
The basic core of the Research Group is formed by: Rosario del Caz, Pablo Gigosos, Mario Rodríguez and Manuel Saravia (Valladolid, Spain).
The Research Group usually collaborates with Arquitectos Sin Fronteras Castilla y León (ASFCyL) in the publication of the Reports of Valladolid.
Colaboradores: Julio Alguacil Gómez (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, España); Michel Barnier (Member of the European Commission responsible for regional policy); M. Eugenia Bielsa (Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina); Scott Bollens (University of California, Irvine, USA); Charles Correa (Architect, Bombay, India); Graciela Dede (Social Watch, Instituto del Tercer Mundo (IteM), Montevideo, Uruguay; V. Devadas (Indian Institute of Technology. Roorkee. Uttaranchal State, India); Antonio Elizalde (Universidad Bolivariana de Santiago de Chile; Manuel Espinilla (Presidente de la asociación Entrepueblos, Barcelona, España); José Fariña Tojo (Escuela de Arquitectura de Madrid, España); Alejandro Florian Borbón (Asociación Fedevivienda, Colombia); Andrés de Francisco (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España); Mayra Gómez (Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Sara González (University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK); Lorenzo González Casas (Universidad Simón Bolívar, Venezuela); Stephen Graham (Newcastle University's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, England); Agustín Hernández Aja (Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid); Patrick Colm Hogart (University of Conneticut, USA); Jane Holtz Kay (Asphalt Nation's author, USA); Ricardo Kingsland (Director del Plan Director de la Municipalidad de la Ciudad de Rosario, Argentina); David Kullock (Facultad de Arquitectura, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina); Karina Landman (CSIR, Building and Construction Technology, Southafrica); Christopher Leo (University of Winnipeg, Canada); Peter Marcuse (University of Columbia, New York, USA); Leticia Marques Osorio (COHRE Americas Coordinator, Porto Alegre, Brasil); Chantal Mouffe (Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster, London); Daniel Raventós (Universidad de Barcelona, presidente de la Asociación Red Renta Básica, España); George Ritzer (University of Maryland, USA); Maggie H. Roe (University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK); Julián Salas Serrano (Investigador del CSIC, Director del ICHAB sobre Habitabilidad Básica en la ETS de Arquitectura de Madrid, España); A. Salim (College of Engineering. Trivandrum, Kerala State, India); Birte Susanne Scholz (Women and Housing Rights Programme Coordinator, The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Geneve, Switzerland); Karen Scott (University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK); Johan Silas (Assistant of the City Goverment of Surabaya, adviser of the Ministry for Settlement and regional Infraestructure for housing programme at national level, Surabaya, Indonesia); Todd Stillman (University of Maryland, USA); Bret Thiele (Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Legal Officer, Duluth, USA); Guy Thuillier (GRAL. Groupe de Recherche sur l'Amérique Latine. University of Toulouse II-le Mirail, France); Walter Trejo Urquiola (Coordinador general Cátedra de la Paz y Derechos Humanos "Mons. Óscar Arnulfo Romero", Venezuela); Mariano Vázquez Espí (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, España); Jan Wehrheim (Carl-von-Ossietzky-University Oldenburg. Germany)
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Headquarters
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School of Architecture, University of Valladolid, Spain.
Postal adress:
Grupo de investigación sobre ciudad y derechos humanos
Avda. de Salamanca s/n
47014-Valladolid
España
Tlfnos: (+34) 983-423465 y 423438
Fax: (+34) 983-423439
eMail: info@ciudad-derechos.org
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