This paper explores the relationship between the principle and right to good administration and the progressive realisation of economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR), focusing specifically on the right to housing. Multiple constitutional traditions and supranational legal orders recognise good administration, yet its potential to strengthen ESCR enforcement remains underdeveloped. The study argues that the obligation of due diligence, a key aspect of good administration, can act as a concrete procedural and substantive standard for evaluating whether public authorities fulfil their obligations of means in advancing social rights. Drawing on European, Inter-American and international jurisprudence, the paper clarifies the content of due diligence, distinguishing it from proportionality and reasonableness.

This analysis considers the relationship between human beings and Artificial Intelligence in reference to one aspect linked to the right to good administration and fair discretionary administrative decisions: what we might call the “reserve of humankind” or “human reserve”. In relation to this issue, the study analyses the questions of fettering, human empathy, typical human abductive inferences and due administrative procedures (which must include hearing and giving reasons) as relevant reasons to apply the precautionary principle in the current state of technology and to establish legal decisions to exclude artificial intelligence from automated discretionary administrative decisions in order to preserve good and fair decisions. Artificial intelligence should act only as a support for the human decision-maker when developing discretionary administrative powers. Current EU and Member State regulations establishing such a reservation are discussed, as well as possible future regulations in this field.

This analysis considers the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in relation to smart cities. European cities are increasingly using AI for the development of smart cities. However, the risks that AI presents need to be considered alongside its undoubted benefits. The paper analyses the possible use of AI in the framework of urban planning and housing and concludes by considering the legal limits of the use of AI in smart cities and the need to establish a reservation of humanity, i.e. a reservation of certain decisions for human beings, as already established by various national legislation and the EU AI regulation of 2024 in regard to judicial decisions.