SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY AND THE RIGHT TO THE CITY: CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES

Abstract

ABSTRACT
The Right to the City is a concept that has been used interchangeably by scholars, social and grassroots movements, state institutions, and non-governmental organizations, among others, throughout Latin America. This article aims to explore the meanings of this concept as developed in Henri Lefebvre’s work (1969), as well as to analyze how it has been problematized in both academic and social movements through specific studies and cases. Finally, it seeks to suggest possible approaches for addressing this concept within the framework of school geography. This text is part of a broader bibliographic review process aimed at constructing state of the art that connects urban issues and school geography. The findings indicate that the Right to the City is a living concept—one that remains open to debate and continues to be employed within the geographical discipline through a productive dialogue between social movements and academia. This dialogue has been materialized in political expressions such as the letters for the Right to the City, which largely preserve Lefebvre’s original intent. Moreover, This academic and political dialogue has resonated within school geography, both in scholarly articles and in systematized pedagogical practices in countries such as Colombia and Brazil, all oriented toward the goal of a socially relevant school geography.