Today, over half the world’s population lives in cities and this may increase to over 70% over the next thirty years. Sustainable urban development centred on people and the respect of human rights is therefore one of the major priorities and challenges of today’s societies. Although cities occupy only 2% of total land surface, they account for 54% of the world population (World Bank, 20161), 70% of GDP, 60% of global energy consumption, 70% of greenhouse gas emissions and 70% of global waste (UN-Habitat, 20162). Habitat III, the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development taking place in October 2016, is pushing for urbanization to be understood as a strategy for development, rather than just an accumulation of problems (Habitat III’s New Urban Agenda).