The Production of Space

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 ha

The Production of Space is a thick yet engaging introduction to Postmodern spatial theory, providing insights to a variety of philosophical concepts centering on how we perceive, construct, and reproduce both physical and mental spaces. While complex and eclectic, Lefebvre's book provides ample food for thought for those interested in the means by which we as human beings understand space in the world and how we negotiate and transpose it in our minds.Overall, it's damned good stuff. I read this book and the idea for my Masters thesis came exploding out of me like one of those creatures from "Alien."

Henri Lefebvre's epic book, The Production of Space is a cryptic exploration into the production of various kinds of space. While I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a comprehensive spatial analysis, I warn the reader to avoid jumping into the book blindly. It is not a book to be kept on the night table and read leisurely before drifting off to sleep. It is a serious book and requires serious concentration on the part of the reader.