Guardians of the Right to the City

I agree that everyone should have a fundamental right to the city, but how do we navigate the situations when this right is abused (either deliberately or accidentally)? A slumlord has the right to alter the city to his liking, but his liking happens to be to the detriment of many others and the city as a whole. Likewise, it is within the city-rights of a developer to propose a housing project in a poorer area of town, but then the process of gentrification is likely to begin. This right, like all others, needs limits. If it needs limits, it must necessarily need enforcing. Who are the enforcers? Do we as architects step up as city-alteration police? I'm reminded of Jane Jacobs and her efforts to stop the Lower Manhattan Expressway from plowing through Washington Square Park. In our shrinking role as architect, do we accept a newfound role as guardians of the right to the city?