ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the question of what, precisely, urban actors and urban policy dynamics can offer in this context: not just a neutral backdrop to social movement struggles in the city, but indeed a distinct set of opportunities for more emancipatory views of human rights. While human rights can provide a unique counter-narrative to prevailing power imbalances, structural inequality and injustice, experiences from different cities around the world show that translating these ideas into municipal policy is not an obvious task. The chapter explores the role of civil society and social movement organisations in pushing for a policy and discursive shift in city officials by simultaneously relying on New York City's various rights-based housing protection tools and on the work of UN Special Rapporteurs on adequate housing. Municipal jurisdiction over areas such as public housing, tenant protections and procedural rights can provide windows of opportunity for mobilisation, collective action and solidarity.
