The right to the city is not a new proposal. The term appeared in 1968, when Henri Lefebvre wrote The Right to the City taking into account the negative impact suffered by cities in capitalist economy countries, with the conversion of the city into a commodity to the exclusive service of the interests of the accumulation of capital. As a counter-proposal to this phenomenon, Lefebvre builds a political approach to vindicate the possibility of people re-owning the city. Faced with the effects caused by neoliberalism, such as the privatization of urban spaces, the commercial use of the city, the predominance of industries and commercial spaces, this political perspective is proposed.

Taken by the interests of the capital, the city ceased to belong to the people, therefore Lefebvre advocates "rescuing the citizen as the main element, protagonist of the city that he has built himself". It is about restoring the sense of city, establishing the possibility of "good living" for all, and making the city "the meeting place for the construction of collective life". This collective life can be built on the basis of the idea of the city as a cultural, collective and, consequently, political product. The city is a political space where the expression of collective wills is possible, it is a space for solidarity, but also for conflict.