Can We Grant a Right to Place?

Abstract

The author considers the plausibility of granting a “right to place” (RTP) as an entitlement of citizenship in a nation such as the United States. Such a right would afford people the capacity to live in the places (or place communities) they choose. To explore whether granting such a right is plausible, the author identifies and examines the salient barriers now preventing Americans from choosing their place communities. The final section suggests that these myriad barriers, while formidable, are not insurmountable—a conclusion that, in turn, suggests that an RTP could be plausibly granted to Americans in the twenty-first century.