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The Production of Space

by Henri Lefebvre, Donald Nicholson-Smith (Translator)

4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 · rating details · 526 ratings · 36 reviews

Henri Lefebvre has considerable claims to be the greatest living philosopher. His work spans some sixty years and includes original work on a diverse range of subjects, from dialectical materialism to architecture, urbanism and the experience of everyday life. The Production of Space is his major philosophical work and its translation has been long awaited by scholars in m...more

Paperback, 464 pages

Published April 8th 1992 by Wiley-Blackwell

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Aug 06, 2011 Malcolm rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: marxism-and-the-left

Brilliant, stunning, dense, provocative. Lefebvre, one of the finest dissident voices in French Marxism, explores the subtle experiences of space, the ways it is represented in language and practice, and the fundamental role of capitalism's ordering of space and place to shape our world and the ways we experience it as a constraint, as a thing to be struggled against, and as a way into those struggles.

His notion of three forms of space: of spatial practice where space is produced and reproduced...more Brilliant, stunning, dense, provocative. Lefebvre, one of the finest dissident voices in French Marxism, explores the subtle experiences of space, the ways it is represented in language and practice, and the fundamental role of capitalism's ordering of space and place to shape our world and the ways we experience it as a constraint, as a thing to be struggled against, and as a way into those struggles.

His notion of three forms of space: of spatial practice where space is produced and reproduced as specific locations and sets of relationships that ensure both continuity and an element of cohesion - often taken as perceived space, its material form; of representations of space grounded in and linked to a specific societies relations of production and to the order they impose - often discussed as conceived space or the ways it is planned; and of representational spaces in which people live and struggle to make their own meanings in opposition to the constaints imposed by the order flowing from the relations of production - otherwise referred to as lived space, that is affective space resulting from the lived experience of the other two spaces. Crucially, these spaces are not hierarchical or sequential, but concurrent and in their existence co-extensive (part of my problem with Ed Soja's postmodern spin that seen lived space as 'Thirdspace'). Lefebvre's model here is exceptional - although he bases his notion of space in the material world he also recognises the social character of both the structures in which we live and the agency we bring to meaning making within those structures.

Lefebvre's work is becoming increasing recognised in English language scholarship (not that some users of his ideas, such as Ed Soja with his postmodernist obscurantism, help make sense of the meaningful political struggles Lefebvre sought to build). This is a fine example of the philosophical significance of the everyday and of useful ways to build and incorporate subjectivities in philosophies of political struggles without getting taken down the psychoanalytic detour of much of what passes as grounded contemporary political philosophy (much as I enjoy and appreciate Žižek).

It is, to my mind, one of the great political and philosopohical texts of the twentieth century, but Lefebvre's poetic, circuitous, at times contradictory style (less obvious in this case than some other pieces of his work such as Introduction to Modernity) means that multiple or revisited readings may be necessary(less)

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Apr 20, 2011 JM Bosch rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ma-thesis-research

///NOT MY REVIEW. Just an intriguing one from Amazon.com I want to keep handy...///

Thinkers have long analyzed things in space, but it is time to analyze space itself and "the social relationships embedded in it" according to Lefebvre. He wants to analyze the form, structure, and function of something he calls "social space" and explore how such spaces have been produced.
"Social space" partly consists of a certain configuration of actual space in actual time. Space also encompasses and includes...more ///NOT MY REVIEW. Just an intriguing one from Amazon.com I want to keep handy...///

Thinkers have long analyzed things in space, but it is time to analyze space itself and "the social relationships embedded in it" according to Lefebvre. He wants to analyze the form, structure, and function of something he calls "social space" and explore how such spaces have been produced.
"Social space" partly consists of a certain configuration of actual space in actual time. Space also encompasses and includes physical objects that participate in discourse (as Foucault would say). Thus, space is also a container of relationships. It is also the receptacle of history, "the outcome of past actions." Lefebvre uses the example of a mountain. It does not have to have been produced or even physically altered by human hands to be considered a social space. Lefebvre's mountain participates in many relationships. The mountain space participates in a dialectic with humans, other spaces (social, representational, and represented), and history (it is produced in history and plays a role in history). It is at once a locus, a node on a network, a path, and place of potentials (i.e. of possible material exchange). "Its `reality' [is] at once formal and material." In short, the mountain cannot be reduced to a simple object, writes Lefebvre.

Space is powerful. Space, according to him, is anything but the "passive locus of social relations." It has an "active-operational or instrumental role," it is "knowledge and action." It instructs. It is also nothing less than a new mode of production. It contributes to "the establishment...of a system" and those in power (the bourgeois, most recently) frequently have made use of it. Space produces society, writes Lefebvre. He writes, "a decisive part is played by space in this continuity [of the reproduction of society]."

At the same time space produces society, space is produced. What Lefebvre sets out to do is identify "the actual production of space," to bring the different kinds of space and the modes of their production into a theory. Space is not "produced in the sense that a kilogram of sugar or a yard of cloth is produced." Nor is it produced like an aspect of superstructure. Social space is produced by (and produces) power to serve its goals.

Lefebvre laments that, in the work of philosophers, there has been an "abyss" between mental ("ideal") space and real space, between the internal "sphere", the realm of mental categories, and the external, physical, social. Lefebvre rejects the res cogitans/res existensa duality of Descartes, and separating mental space from real space strongly reinforces this. Lefebvre's belief that real minds in real bodies inhabit real space-at the same time spaces participate in the mental realm-is the most basic reason The Production of Space is useful for environmental historians. His ideas hint at new opportunities to bridge the culture/matter gap.

Lefebvre also believes that physical environments have histories and humans are a part of them. "In short, every social space has a history, one invariably grounded in nature, in natural conditions that are at once primordial and unique in the sense that they are always and everywhere endowed with specific characteristics (site, climate, etc.)." He even sounds like an environmental historian at times. "The departure point for this history of space is not to be found in geographical descriptions of natural space, but rather in the study of natural rhythms, and of the modification of those rhythms and their inscription in space by means of human actions, especially work-related actions. It begins, then, with the spatio-temporal rhythms of nature as transformed by a social practice."

Criticisms: Lefebvre frequently returns to a critique of the space produced by capitalism, a powerful (abstract) space that spans the globe and has left few pockets free from it. The space produced by something like capitalism is extremely powerful because one can not choose but be obedient to it; to live in it is "lived obedience." That is, to follow its dictates, move about in it in an orderly fashion, to be directed in some paths, prohibited from others, is to follow its instruction. This space is totally concerned with reproducing (bourgeois-serving) social relationships at the cost of "[creative] works, ...natural reproduction, over nature itself, and over natural time."

His point is well taken, but I think these frequently tangential moments detract from his exposition of a new analytical tool. I get tired of hearing that the point of this analysis is to uncover the social relationships latent in spaces for the ostensible purpose of inspiring revolution. I'd rather he left such an analysis to a historian employing Lefebvre's idea rather than having Lefebvre try to make his exposition of a theoretical tool double as a manifesto. (I am also really weary of his defending himself against hardcore Marxists-his concentration is greatly lessened for the effort. I understand that he is fighting personal battles with his old friends at these moments.)

- H-S from Brooklyn, NY(less)

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Mar 05, 2008 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

OK - this should be prefaced by the fact that I am a huge grad school nerd and largely read books that contribute to rhetorical theory or criticism. That being said, Henri Lefebvre is a crazy, circuitous, uber-french thinker whose ideas about space and how we use/make it are interesting for anyone who questions life in our modern age. Spaces don't just exist anymore he says, they're produced in/by the overarching bureaucracy. However, spaces aren't products like sugar or hair brushes because the...more

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May 15, 2012 John Carter McKnight rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: academic

This book is so magisterial, so essential, and such a hot mess that it's nearly impossible to review. As many have noted, the beginning and end are astonishingly brilliant, while the middle is contradictory, unclear and not terribly useful. Still, anyone interested in technology and society, architecture and urban design, contemporary philosophy, or powerful ideas generally really needs to read this book (skipping the middle chapters if necessary).

That an orthodox French Marxist writing a deeply...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Geoffrey Fox rated it 5 of 5 stars

“In the beginning was the Topos. Before – long before – the advent of the Logos, in the chiaroscuro realm of primitive life, lived experience already possessed its internal rationality; this experience was producing long before thought space, and spatial thought, began reproducing the projection, explosion, image and orientation of the body.” (p. 174)

In Henri Lefebvre’s terms, living things “produce” space simply by moving. What he meant was that an animal’s or plant’s “gestures,” that is, the...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Alexander Craghead rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: architecture-and-meaning, transportation-space-and-place

Lefebvre's work seems an attempt to create a unified philosohical theory of space, and as such would seem of great importance in understanding geography, place, and urban form. I find his work, however, to be of limited value. He spends a great deal of time in mental exploration of complex abstractions, so that it seems the only space that is truly important is that which sits between the reader's ears, rather than the actuality of space in the real world. Too much time is spent exploring how di...more Lefebvre's work seems an attempt to create a unified philosohical theory of space, and as such would seem of great importance in understanding geography, place, and urban form. I find his work, however, to be of limited value. He spends a great deal of time in mental exploration of complex abstractions, so that it seems the only space that is truly important is that which sits between the reader's ears, rather than the actuality of space in the real world. Too much time is spent exploring how different cultures, on paper, thought of spaces, or worse yet how Lefebvre interprets those cultures' thinking of spaces. It feels as if the reader is subjected to considering space through many layers of foggy intellectual lenses.

At its best, the work does explore some interesting facets of how philosophy and architecture combine. For example, Lefebvre asserts that the ancient Greeks viewed form and function as one as a matter of course, and that these two were not split until Roman times. In Roman conception, however, the idea of function asserts itself through mathematically sophisticated construction, and form becomes not only the shape of construction, but also an applied decoration. In this, Lefebvre is starting to delve into the signifier-signified relationship of semiotics, as related by Saussure, and as later adapted by Venturi et al as the Post Modern theory of architecture. Yet Lefebvre also rejects this to some degree, taking a historical view and asserting that the postmodern approach to form is a later abstraction of human creation, versus the Greek model wherein the columns of, say, the Acropolis is merely a part of nature, an extension, rather than being perceived as somehow "artificial" and imposed upon nature from some human-based external existence.

Other intereting thoughts are articulated as well, such as: the relationship between cities and rural areas, the role of urbanization in history, and the shift in power away from politics to merchants. He also discusses rather dispassionately the role of capitalism and its roots without becoming stuck in typical ideological mire, while still touching on Marx and Hegel. Yet at times this feels like a sophistric work, and even a pedantic one, where there's a lot of name dropping but little ownership asserted over the original ideas. Are the connecting tissues of this work merely synthesis of others' opinions, and thus this is a survey? Or are they claims made by Lefebvre? If so they seem rather tame. Still, there is meat here, and that which relates best to architecture, urban space, and history is in the chapter titled "From Absolute Space to Abstract Space."

In the end, although there are some interesting and provocative thoughts here, Lefebvre seems to come from a standpoint wherein human existence is best defined by what is thought, rather than what is done. In mentally dissecting his pereceptions of collective social thought processes, he seems to have lost any relationship to actual decisionmakers and actual decision making, as if humanity were a giant organism with a dumb but collective will, rather than an incubator from which people emerge who can weild power. I am left disatisfied.(less)

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Apr 28, 2013 We'reelof rated it 5 of 5 stars

This work consumed a lot of time and thought energy – and still does –, but it was very rewarding: I will never be able to look at my flat the way I used to, any street, building or city. I won't even be able to look at a forest the way I used to or any piece of space. It truly proved the rumors to be true about Lefebvre being a "playful marxist".

The most important concepts of Production of Space are his triad dialectic conceived-perceived-lived space (representations of space, spatial practice,...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Catherine rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book definitely requires a working knowledge of Marx's theories to understand his argument. While I found many of his ideas interesting, he does seem to suffer from a top-down approach to power and a heavy reliance on structure as defining social relationships. In this context, he spreads his theory too far, attempting to make the power capitalism holds over space universal and thereby neglects the other, non-European areas of the world and how their experiences may have differed from that...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Spicy T AKA Mr. Tea rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: architecture, marxist-theory, philosophy, space

I started this a few years ago, got half way through, and put it down. It's a lot of theory and I understood some of it, but not nearly all. Pretty interesting look at how space is constructed via many different perspectives. In some areas it reminded me of Debord's Society of the Spectacle with all that goes into the construction of shared physical space and how authoritative readings of that space are not the totality of the space. It can change and be appropriated into whole other uses. A den...more

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Feb 18, 2009 Gill rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: academic

A classic treaty on humans and space. The main idea being that space is a social product.

Perceived (first), Conceived (second), and Lived (third). Perceived space is the materiality of space. Conceived space is the ways in which space is planned; normative representations of space. Lived space is the emotional experience of space that develops through the imaginary and through lived experience of the first two spaces.

His insights are central to much of human geography. Harvey and Massey have t...more

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Dec 13, 2012 Ida rated it 5 of 5 stars

i agree with some of the reviews that it's dense, but i hardened my soul, grit my teeth and managed to read and trying to understand through it all .... cause this was the foundation of my thesis. i love the guy though and planning to move it all through my dissertation too (when and if i ever started the dissertation)

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Dec 10, 2009 Robin rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of the best (probably the best) book written on humanised space. Few other authors come close to Lefebvre in discussing (anthropic) space and the human condition.

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Sep 24, 2011 Tressa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: started-but-not-finished, american-studies-and-history

This is one convoluted SOB to get through... But I love it!

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Jun 09, 2010 Artemisia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: started-but-not-finished, american-studies-and-history

This is one convoluted SOB to get through... But I love it!

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Jun 18, 2009 Sam Abrams rated it 3 of 5 stars

Great points - but typical European presentation....

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Oct 05, 2011 Joanna rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: philosophy, space-and-landscape

I have no bloody clue what I've just read.

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Oct 28, 2009 Joy rated it 2 of 5 stars

This makes my head thud.

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Mar 05, 2009 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: re-reading

Although geographers Neil Smith and Edward Soja have rewritten and to some extent extended Henri Lefebvre, this remains an essential and eminently readable book.

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Jun 03, 2008 Andrew added it

Shelves: theeeeeeory

First off, a warning: this is a very difficult read, even by theory standards. If you can handle dense, turgid prose though, this is strongly recommended. Whereas most spatial theory comes from a more explicitly sociological or geographic perspective, this provides a perspective more grounded in sheer philosophy, which makes it an unusual and highly influential work, and one from which so much contemporary geography is derived.

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Mar 21, 2012 Marie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Hmmm...

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Apr 22, 2011 DoctorM rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: architecture-urban-planning, critical-theory, summer-of-urban-theory-2011

A classic work by the French Marxist-humanist scholar on the political economy and social construction of urban spaces. Prolix, yes, and more than a bit meandering--- but a brilliant work that repays the reader's effort. Lefebvre is indispensable in considering the relationship between political economy and the organisation of cities and what "space" means... Highly recommended.

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Oct 20, 2012 Micha added it

Shelves: theoreticals, magister-artium

Unforgiving behemoth.

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Jun 17, 2008 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm learning that great ideas come from bad writers. While I'm fascinated by the way the author's ideas have been applied, I'm still wondering if he actually wrote a draft of the book or just hit the literary ground running....

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Aug 21, 2010 Mikel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Overwhelming, awesome, but you are better served by getting an introduction to these ideas by reading "The Right to the City" in Writings on Cities and The Urban Revolution. Then this makes much more sense.

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Sep 19, 2008 The Steele rated it 3 of 5 stars

He is such a good little Marxist. But where was he hanging out in Paris . . . the right-bank, also known as the wrong-bank, because he doesn't appear on the left-bank intellectual scene . . . at all.

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Jun 12, 2007 Michael Shilling rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who enjoy a complex confusion

Theory about the idea of space: emotional, social, economic. I think I understood 4%, but the other 96% was just as fun. Written by a French Communist. Very dirty.

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Jul 21, 2008 Burke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Dense as all get-out, but worth considering as an illustration of the possibilities for examining space as constructed through social processes.

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Dec 22, 2007 Peter rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fascinating analysis of how political and economic orders produce urban and rural spaces the both reinforce and subvert their founding values.

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Jul 08, 2008 Danielle added it

Not easy reading, and neither for lovers of narrative nor brevity, but still totally worth picking away at.

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Jul 17, 2007 Pannill Camp rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: theory nerds

It is the theoretical rosetta stone of my disseration. Kind of sloppily written, but full of great insights.

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