1. The Production of Space
Chapter 1
Plan of the Present Work
Henri Lefebvre
Hande Işık
ID 501 Literature Review
METU
March 31st, 2012

2. Main Argument:
1. There there are different levels of space, from
very abstract, natural space (absolute space) to
more complex spatialities whose significance is
socially produced (social space)
2. Social space is a social product.
3. Every society produces its own social space. The
social production of urban space is fundamental
to the reproduction of society (its social control)

3. The Theoretical Background
• I) The traditional philosophy of space becoming
categories of an immanent order
– e.g. Aristotle space and time as categories facilitating
the naming and classing of evidence of the senses
• II) Science of space (mathematics).
– Invented spaces ; an infinity, curved spaces, etc.
• III) The Modern Field of Epistemology
– Space as a mental thing.
– Over-used: e.g. literary space, ideological spaces, etc.

4. The Theoretical Background
• IV) A Science of Space
– An indefinite multitude of spaces (geographic, economic,
demographic, etc.)
• It reveals how mode of production is subject to endless division.
– Society as a whole continues in subjection to political practice, that is, state
power.
• Represents the political use of knowledge, in more immediate way in
the forces of production, and in a 'mediate' way into the social
relations of production.
• V) Space and the Capitalist Hegemony
– The many facets of capitalism; all play a part in practice
according to their varying capabilities, conflicts
• The hegemony of one class
• Space, taking an active role but not being a passive locus of relations

5. The Theoretical Background
• VI) Lefebvre's theoretical position
– A unitary theory of space
• Combines the physical, the mental and the social.
• VIII) Spatial Code and his System of Space
– The aim:
• Expose the actual production of space by bringing the
various kinds of space and the modalities of their
genesis together within a single theory.

6. The Theoretical Background
• IX) Examples of the Switching of Spatial Codes
– Surrealists: from subjective space to the material realm of
the body and the outside world
– George Bataille: the entirety of space; mental, physical,
social, is apprehended tragically.
– Theorist of technology Jacque Lafitte, technocratic utopia
with 'active' machines and 'passive' machines.
• X) Fetishization of Space in the service of the State.
– Aims to foster confrontation between those ideas and
propositions which illuminate the modern world even if
they do not govern it, treating them as prefigurations lying
at the threshold of modernity.

7. Lefebvre's critique of two illusions of
transparency and realist
• Lefebvre's critique of two illusions
– The illusion of transparency, space appears as
luminous, as intelligible, as giving action free rein.
• Related to the ideology which privileges speech and/or
writing; has a kinship with philosophical idealism.
– The realist illusion, the belief that 'things' have
more of an existence than the 'subject,' his
thought and his desires. [Closer to materialism]
• His argument: (social) space is a (social)
product.

8. The Theoretical Background
• XIV ) (Physical) natural space is disappearing.
• XV) Every society, hence every mode of production
with its subvariants produces a space, its own space.
– Social space contains
• (1) The social relations of reproduction, i.e. the bio-physiological
relations between the sexes and between age groups, along with
the specific organization of the family
• (2) The relations of production, i.e. the division of labour and its
organization in the form of hierarchical social functions
– Three interrelated levels in capitalist society:
• (1) Biological reproduction (the family)
• (2) The reproduction of labour power
• (3) The reproduction of the social relations of production
– Space embraces a multitude of intersections.

9. The Theoretical Background
• XVI) Examples of different representation of
space for society's self-presentation or self-
preservation
• XVII) If space is a product, our knowledge of it
must be expected to reproduce and expound the
process of production. The 'object' of interest
must be expected to shift from things in space to
the actual production of space.
– How is space produced?
• Lefebvre's spatial triad: the perceive, the conceived, and the
lived

10. Spatial Triad
• 1. Spatial practice
– Which embraces production and reproduction, spatial practice ensures continuity and some
degree of cohesion.
– The spatial practice of a society secretes that society's space; it propounds and presupposed
it, in a dialectical interaction; it produces it slowly and surely as it masters and appropriates it.
• 2. Representation of space:
– Tied to the relations of production and to the 'order.'
– conceptualized space, the space of scientists, planners, urbanists, technocratic subdividers
and social engineers. . . all of whom identify what is lived and what is perceive with what is
conceived.
• 3. Representational spaces:
– Embody complex symbolisms, sometimes coded, sometimes not, linked to the clandestine or
underground side of social life, as also to art.
– Space as directly lived through its associated images and symbols, and hence the space of
'inhabitants' and 'users,' but also of some artists and perhaps of those, such as a few writers
and philosophers, who describe and aspire to do no more than describe.

11. Spatial Triad
Spatial Practice Representation of Space Representational Spaces
Physical space (nature) Mental Space (abstractions) Social Space
(Sensation/action)
Perceived Conceived Lived
Daily routines align with Scientists, planners, Inhabitants and users
routes between places technocratic subdividers (artists who just describe)

12. • Absolute space
– Made up of fragments of nature but [the sites] very
consecration ended up by stripping them of their natural
characteristics and uniqueness, religious and political in
character, was a product of the bonds of sanguinity, soil
and language, but out of it evolved a space which
was relativized and historical.
• Abstract space
– The forces of history smashed naturalness forever and
upon its ruins established the space of accumulation (the
accumulation of all wealth and resources: knowledge,
technology, money, precious objects, works of art and
symbols).

13. Conclusion
– The Production of Space
• Specialized fragmentation of space – both mental and
real – to bring together a unified production of space.
• Lefebvre is able to make this observations through his
epistemological shift that moves from
conceiving "things in space" to that of the "actual
production of space“
• Building upon a Marxist idea of ‘production’ he
demystifies the dynamic relationships of captialist
commoditization and acknowledges that space itself is
an “active moment” that needs to be “actively
produced” and not just left to its own devices.

14. Distinctions
Strategy & Tactics
Patterns
Resistance Cultural
Hegemony Reproduction
Tastes Habitus
Producing Representations
Social Production
Common Sense
MEANINGS CULTURE
= Material
=
Manifestation
Commodification
=
Relations of
Production Practices
Distorted
Boredom
Meanings Social Change
Social Space Hierarchy
Reproduction Consumer
of Society Culture Blaming the Victim
& Trouble Maker
Urban Space