THE EUROPEAN DECLARATION OF URBAN RIGHTS

Article 1)

Cities are places where;
Children,

Women,

Persons with disabilities,

The elderly,

Pets,

Trees,

Flowers,

Insects,

Human beings

Have the right to live safely, without being harmed, without experiencing mishaps.



Article 2)

The air of the city cannot be polluted by chimneys or exhaust gases.
Urban administrators pay utmost attention to this issue.
People also pay attention not to pollute the air.
Water sources of the city cannot be polluted.
Constructing buildings on basins of drinking water and around water dams is not allowed.
Factories, workshops are not allowed to dispose their chemical wastes at water sources, fields and forests.
In cities, we pay attention not to make noise.
Motor vehicles avoid honking horns.
We avoid making noise for the sake of sleeping babies, resting patients and older persons.
The land, nature and natural resources of the city are protected.
Its shores and rivers cannot be blocked.
Its rivers and lakes are improved, cleaned and opened to the use of citizens.
Old, beautiful buildings, parks and pedestrian ways are protected.


Article 3)

Cities are places where people are provided with the opportunity to do the job that they can do and want to do.
Human beings have the right to have humane and adequate income from their jobs.
Young people, women, older persons, persons with disabilities work to improve the city. They get a share of urban society, which they enrich with their efforts.
We don’t let poverty crush people in cities.


Article 4)

Every human being has a private life.
People live this private life in their homes where they live alone or together with their families.
Cities are places where people are offered possibilities to rent or buy houses.
People are provided cheap, health and adequate housing opportunities.
No one can interfere with people’s lives in their homes.
Just like the people living in them, homes are accepted as worthy of respect.
Thus, no one can enter someone else’s house or room without permission.


Article 5)

Pedestrians and cyclists, people using white canes, people on wheelchairs, expectant mothers, older persons and ill persons, who are the true owners of cities, are given priority in traffic.
They get help to make the best use of the city.
In urban transport and mobility, public transport and private vehicles are not allowed to hinder these groups.


Article 6)

To protect people’s physical and mental health in cities;
A clean environment,
Clean drinking water,
Clean air
Are provided.
Polluting the environment, air, water and food is not allowed.
All conditions that may cause contagious diseases are controlled.
Health services are provided in a system that every individual can easily access and use.


Article 7)

Urban administrators set up sports centers, pedestrian ways, cyclists’ ways, sports schools, sports fields that can be used by all groups and individuals, without making any discrimination against children, persons with disabilities, women, older persons.
They organize games and contests.


Article 8)

Neighborhood libraries are set up in cities. Otherwise, mobile libraries provide this service.
Mobile libraries wander all neighborhoods of the cities.
Mobile cinemas and theatres are usually free of charge for viewers.
Paintings, sculptures, statues are displayed in mobile exhibitions.
Young and old alike, everyone is provided opportunities to watch and participate in creative activities.
In cities, every individual engages in at least one branch of art of their choice.


Article 9)

Cities are crowded and colorful places.
People of many different origins live together as brothers and sisters in cities.
Individuals and communities respect each other’s dignity in cities.
Nobody is criticized for being different.
Living together as brothers and sisters despite differences is richness.
Everyone respects one another’s rights.
We all live together in peace.


Article 10)

Cities are beautiful places set up by people.
In a good city, old buildings from all of our ancestors are carefully protected and used.
New and beautiful buildings are built by their side.
Parks and gardens are scattered in between.
Libraries, culture and art centers, open-air museums are added.
This way, a settlement where all individuals live happily is established.


Article 11)

Individuals have the right to easily get to their offices and factories from their homes.
Children can safely get to their schools and nurseries.
In cities, we pay attention to people who are working, people who are having fun or people who are resting all at once.
There are accessible and appropriate places for all.
Arrangements are made so that people who having fun don’t disturb people who are resting.
That’s why people live in peace, without being disturbed by each other.


Article 12)

In cities, urban administrators are obliged to inform individuals about all the work carried out in the town.
Individuals can always reach urban administrators whenever they want.
Individuals directly have access to administrators to convey their needs and their proposed solutions.
Urban administrations need people’s opinions.
They don’t discriminate between individuals while assessing these opinions.
They ask citizens’ opinions when they search for solutions to a common problem, when they build a road, a gate or a park.
Urban administrators may get help from both individuals and state institutions in solving the problems of the town.
They work together with individuals in solving the problems of the town or improving it.


Article 13)

Urban managements work to improve the lives of citizens living in the city.
They create employment so that people’s income rises beyond what they need for just eating, drinking and housing, making it affordable for them to have fun and go on holidays.
They organize fairs.
They promote natural products, the products that are produced only in that town, to the outside world.
They organize cultural and artistic activities.


Article 14)

Urban managements are obliged to make sure that citizens don’t hurt the environment as they increase their income.
Urban managements contribute to the health, wealth and happiness of citizens by making sure that the environment, the air, water and land are not polluted.


Article 15)

Urban managements make it possible for citizens to easily reach food, drink, clothing, medication, doctors, school, ice cream, books.
They provide easy access to the hospital, the post office.
They make sure that all goods and services in the town are high in quality.


Article 16)

All cities and their surroundings have natural resources.
Some cities have shores to the sea, some of them have lakes.
Rivers pass through some cities, groundwater flows through some, and some of them have hot springs. Their mountains have caves. There may be forests around the city.
All sorts of trees and all sorts of plants endemic to that environment grow in their lands.
Animals endemic to that environment feed on their grassland.
Different species of fish play in their waters.
Urban managers ensure that these resources are used efficiently.
They are obliged to ensure that all individuals benefit from these resources in a fair


Article 17)

Urban administrators are obliged to create the environment necessary for the society and individuals to develop.
Cities create opportunities for people to get to know each other, develop neighborly relations, to get together to form education groups.
Urban administrators are obliged to provide services so that individuals’ needs and wishes are satisfied.


Article 18)

All cities in the world cooperate with each other to provide better lives for individuals.
They may become sister cities in order to share their resources.
Many of them may get together to form town unions.
They can pool their means and resources to provide better lives to individuals.
Citizens have the right to directly participate in the cooperation between their hometown and other cities.
They may express their opinions about the relationship built between their hometown and other cities.
They may ask their opinions to be put into practice.


Article 19)

Urban administrators are free to find the resources necessary to provide the services explained here.


Article 20)

All of the rights explained here are for all human beings living in the city.
It doesn’t matter if they are women, men, white, black, children, old, young, poor or rich; every citizen has the right to exercise these rights.
The individual’s birthplace, language, beliefs don’t make a difference in using urban rights.


Defined within the framework of European Urban Charter – March 17-19, 1992



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