International municipalism and the right to the city: Cities in the age of globalisation

In the age of globalisation, cities have emerged on the international stage and demand an active role in global governance by using their own messages and sometimes by acting as a counterweight and resistance to national policies or global strategies. Nevertheless, this trend meets obstacles and challenges in increasingly transnational processes that lie even beyond states' sphere of action. One of the narratives recently adopted by international municipalism is the “right to the city”, an expression that grew out of the streets and social movements and that has been penetrating the institutional world and public policies at local and international levels. Its use and impact in this context are a little-explored subject in academic literature. Issue 123 of Revista CIDOB d'Afers Internationals attempts to fill this gap: taking a multidisciplinary and cross-cutting approach, it explores the intersections between the right to the city and international municipalism.