Rights-based Litigation, Urban Governance and Social Justice in South Africa: The Right to Joburg
Marius PieterseRights- based Litigation, Urban Governance and Social Justice in South Africa
considers the overlap between legal and everyday struggles for social and spatial
justice in the particular context of Johannesburg, South Africa. Drawing from
literature across disciplines of law, urban geography and urban planning, as well
as from reported case- law concerning the invocation of constitutional rights in
Johannesburg and other South African cities, the book critically examines
whether, and to what extent, the invocation of legal rights before South African
courts have contributed to the advancement of social justice in the city. It considers
the impact of the legal assertion of different constituent aspects of the socalled
‘right to the city’ on the many people simultaneously performing the right,
the governance structures responsible for enabling and facilitating its enjoyment
and the physical place in which it is performed. Drawing broad conclusions on
the utility of rights- based litigation for the achievement of social change and
spatial justice, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of South
Africa, constitutional law, human rights law, regulatory law, sociology of rights,
studies of law and society, urban studies, urban geography, governance studies
and development studies.