Exploring the right to mobility through the 2013 mobilizations in Rio de Janeiro

In this paper we explore the unfolding of the right to the city through a focus on urban mobility. We analyse the way urban social movements (USMs), which play a crucial role in shaping the right to the city, frame their struggles in relation to mobility. We argue that their use of the concept of the ‘right to mobility’ has two meanings. First, the concept gives USMs a framing discourse to advocate and shape transport policy changes. Second, it enables USMs to bring together different actors with different urban agendas. We base this argument on a study of Rio de Janeiro, a paradigmatic case of mobility-based claims of the right to the city. Looking at the practice of a protest-oriented and a knowledge-oriented USMs that contest the Rio de Janeiro's mobility crisis, we outline an agenda for academics and practitioners willing to work towards the construction of sustainable and just mobilities.