#UR_EU The European Declaration of Urban Rights

The UR_EU 2020 Edition aims to expand the urban rights network to boost Europe’s solidarity by co-creating to the European political scene and design the first version for a European Parliament of Urban Rights.

A parliament, at least for the Urban Rights community, is not a formal event about people dressed up in suits representing others; It is a tool for gathering with a comfortable atmosphere, a set of tools, rules, etc. that are open to interpretation and improvement in each local iteration. We have practised this approach quite a few times, with the aspiration of creating an open, democratic platform where urban and rural matters could be discussed since a situated point of view. During the 2020 Autumn we have had a parliamentary cycle with 8 events across Europe, 5 parliamentary sessions among 5 European embassies as local partners from Germany, Italy, France, Greece, and Belgium and a Digital embassy.

There is no fixed method to organise a parliament to reinforce the UR_Net and the notion of Europe as a shared public space in response to the current ecological, democratic and economic crisis. In the extraordinary circumstances due to the global pandemic, we have requested the ambassadors to think of how we can get together, and open a conversation to make visible the local knowledge that is put to use in each place to discuss not only the convenient but the controversial. The challenge was to find a way to quickly and empathetically connect with other territories’ problems, inquiring on how to speak from different languages or with diverse cultural backgrounds. And we believe that the best way to do so is not by giving answers, but by asking questions.

You can navigate through the sessions’ contents to see how each embassy faced this challenge or learn more about our local partners in UR_NET. Soon you will also find the UR_KIT with the lessons learned from this experience so that you can replicate it in your region.