The right to the city: from concept to practice

Starting from the importance that neo-Marxist theory gives to the analysis of urban politics as a specific compromise between neoliberalism and neomanagerialism, which drastically violates social and other civil rights and radicalizes the question to whom the city belongs and who has the right to it, the paper first discusses Lefebvre?s concept of the right to the city in the academic field and from the perspective of urban social movements and differential spatial practices. Then, the paper illustrates the thwarting the right to the city as the outcome of neoliberal urban planning in Belgrade/Serbia in recent decades, primarily based on publications of Ministry of Space, a non-profit organization which centers its critical analysis on the concepts close to Lefebvre?s notion of the right to the city. In the concluding discussion, some questions relevant to understanding the (im)possibilities for citizens to influence the quality of life in their cities and realize their right to the city in the neoliberal context, in general and in Belgrade/Serbia, are synthesized.