Production of Space

Chapter 1Plan of The Present WorkHenri Lefebvre

Deniz Ertürk

Theoretical Background

Traditional philosophy of space

• Aristotelian space and time

• Cartesian space, placed in realm of absolute

• Kantian space, seperated from empirical, part of consciousness realm

Theoretical Background

Science of Space - in mathematics

• Appropriation of space and time as abstract language(curved spaces, non-euclidean spaces, x-dimensional spaces )

• Seperate from physical and social reality

• The problem of transition from mathematical to natural and social

Theoretical Background

Science of Space

• Political use of knowledge• An ideology concealing that use• A technological Utopia

Theoretical Background

Space and the capitalist hegemony

• Economical power

• Hegemony of a class in the building of society

• Not only violence, but also cultural and intellectual exercise by politicians, intellectuals...

Theoretical Background

Unitary theory of space

• Combination of physical, mental and social• Defining interrelations• Considering conflicts

Theoretical Background

Division of spaces• ’The ideal and the real’ each of these two kinds of space involves, underpins and presupposes the other

Spatial Code and Lefebvre’s System of Space• The aim is to expose the actual production of space by

unifying various kinds of space together within a single theory.

Theoretical Background

Decoding the spaces

• Surrealism, from mental ‘inner world’ to the material realm of body and the outside world

• Bataille’s tragically apprehended unity of mental, physical and social

• Lafitte’s ‘mechanology’: consisting of active and passive machines.

Theoretical Background

Fetishization of space in the service of state

• Hegelian space as occupied by the state

• Nietzche’s concept of space consisting both the state and its negation

• Marxist concept of class struggle

• The aim is to detonate the given codes and construct a new code of space

• Movement from products to production

Proposition:‘ (Social) space is a (social) product’

The illusions that conceal the fact, ‘social space is a social product.’

• illusion of transparency- a view of space as innocent, as free of traps or secret places- comprehensible, without obstacles

• the realistic illusion- 'things' have more of an existence than the 'subject‘

Implications of the proposition, ‘social space is a social product’ :

1. Natural space is disappearing

2. Every society, every mode of production, produces its own space

3. Our knowledge of “space as a product” must be expected to reproduce and expound the process of production

Spatial Triad

• Spatial Practice- Includes production and reproduction- Particular locations and spatial sets- Physical

• Representations of Space- Conceptualized by planners, scientists- The ideal space of given system- Mental

• Representational Space- Directly lived through its associated images and symbols- Space of 'inhabitants' and 'users,' but also of some artists- Combination of mental and physical

Spatial Triad

• Spatial Practice (Perceived)

• Representations of Space (Conceived)

• Representational Space (Lived)

‘trialectics of spatiality’The adoption of Lefebvre’s

concept by Edward Soja.(Gregory, 2000)

Implications of the proposition, ‘social space is a social product’ :

4. If space is produced, if there is a productive process, we are dealing with history. The history of space and its production.

- Space is reproduced passing from one mode of production to another.

• Absolute Space (concrete)Physical and natural space including the everyday life.

• Abstract Space Superstructure of economical and political institutions.

Conclusions

• Lefebvre’s system of space sets itself in opposition to homogenizing efforts of state, politicalpower, world market (abstract space)

• It implies the mobilization of differences

• He exposes the dynamics of capitalist commoditization and defines the space as an actively produced concept by these dynamics

References• Lefebvre, Henri 'Plan of the Present Work' in The Production of Space

(Oxford. Cambridge: Blackwell, 2002) (First published 1974. English translation first published 1991), pp.: 1-67.

• Gregory, Derek ‘Production of Space’ in The Dictionary of Human Geography (Blackwell,2000), pp: 644-647,

• Gregory, Derek ‘Trialectics’ in The Dictionary of Human Geography (Blackwell,2000), pp:776

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