Urbanisation and International Law - Potential & Pitfalls

The Committee will study and clarify how existing international law develops and is developed in urban contexts and in turn why and how cities participate at the level of international law and governance. The Committee aims to help shed light on whether fundamental concepts of international law are shaped, and if so how, by the urbanization of international law, including the impact of international law on life in and governance of cities. A broader focus on the urban contexts will allow the Committee: (a) to study the normative processes in which cities and other urban actors engage in and with international law; (b) to assess how their involvement in institutional practices shape law, policy and its implementation; (c) and to assess what patterns of argumentation or discourse constitute the urban turn in international law and governance and the politics of this discourse. This Committee builds on the work of the Study Group (SG) on the role of cities in international law, which examined the legal ramifications of the rise of the city as an actor on the international stage. The mandate of the Committee expands the work of the SG: the focus is broader as the theme of “urbanization and international law” has repercussions across a wide range of different fields of international law.

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