ABSTRACT
A distinctive feature of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) is its emphasis on inclusivity and human rights in urban development. The NUA recognizes the importance of setting minimum standards required for people to live in freedom, equality and dignity. Human rights protect individuals and communities from the exercise of arbitrary power by the government and other private entities and allow them to freely make decisions and express themselves. Modern spatial planning was a response to the rapid and chaotic growth of cities in Western Europe in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution. Modern planning law in developing, and some developed, countries has frequently inherited several defects from its historical legacy. Human rights-based approaches have three distinguishing features, all of which appear prominently within the NUA. The first is the belief that all development policies and programmes should be formulated with the main objective being the fulfilment of human rights.
