Marius Pieterse

As proof of concept for a bigger project about the urbanising content of human rights in international and comparative constitutional law, during my recent sabbatical I wrote two articles, focussing respectively on a socio-economic and civil right, looking at shifts in understandings of rights that can be related to invocation in, against and by cities. … More Publication: “Transforming the Right to Religious Freedom in and through Cities”

I’m happy to announce publication of my latest article, which brings together two major strands in my scholarly work: cities and the right to health. “The Urban Evolution of the Right to Health”, available open access in the International Journal of Human Rights, represents my current overarching research project, inquiring into how human rights’ invocation … More Publication: “The Urban Evolution of the Right to Health”

It was great to be back at LSE Cities where, on Wednesday 1 July 2026, I presented a talk entitled “Urbanising human rights law”. Representing my broader research agenda into the evolving content of human rights in urban contexts, the talk drew from recent and current work on urban collectives as victims of human rights … More LSE Cities Talk: Urbanising human rights law

After several fairly dull months grinding away back in Johannesburg, it is great to be back in London for a number of professional engagements, first among which was a workshop on cities as democratic frontiers in an authoritarian age, organised jointly by colleagues from Kings College, LSE, Queen Mary and the University of Liverpool universities. … More Workshop: The city as democratic frontier in an authoritarian age

My (productive, stimulating and fun) time at UCL Faculty of Laws, for which I am very grateful, has come to an end. I have now started a 2-month visiting scholar stint at LSE Cities, where I’ll both be continuing my work on the transforming content of human rights in urban settings and finalising my contribution … More Visiting academic at LSE Cities

My new article “Urban collectives as victims of international human rights violations” has just been published (in “advance online” form, and open access) in the European Journal of International Law. Looking at judgments from the ICJ and the regional human rights courts, it traces developments in, and considers the challenges of, representing, capturing and remedying … More Publication: “Urban Collectives as Victims of International Human Rights Violations”

I am very pleased to have started a two-month stint as a visiting academic at the UCL Faculty of Laws from 1 September until 31 October 2025. I am hosted by Professor Jeff King at the UCL Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism and will be focusing on my research into the urban evolution of international … More Visiting academic at UCL Laws

Arguably the peak of my academic career thus far was the semester in 2022 that I spent at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS-KNAW), working on the strategic use of human rights by local governments in African cities. I am thus incredibly excited to be back at NIAS … More Alumni summer stay at NIAS

It has been great to be back in Stellenbosch, to again be part of the Harvard Institute for Global Law and Policy’s Global Scholars Academy co-hosted by the Faculty of Law at the University of Stellenbosch, from 30 June until 4 July 2025. Like last year, I taught in a stream entitled “Mapping the world: … More Harvard Institute for Global Law and Policy + Stellenbosch University Faculty of Law “Global Scholars Academy 2025”

This article, which explores how justiciable socio-economic rights, particularly the right to adequate housing under Article 11 of the ICESCR, can strengthen domestic legal systems’ adaptability and support adaptive urban governance during crises, has just appeared (open access) in the 2025 edition of the Human Rights Law Review. You can read it here.