Henri Lefebvre : Spatial Politics, Everyday Life and the Right to the City

"While certain aspects of Henri Lefebvre's writings have been examined extensively within the disciplines of geography, social theory, urban planning and cultural studies, there has been no comprehensive consideration of his work within legal studies. Henri Lefebvre: Spatial Politics, Everyday Life and the Right to the City provides the first serious analysis of the relevance and importance of this significant thinker for the study of law and state power. Introducing Lefebvre to a legal audience, this book identifies the central themes that run through his work, including his unorthodox, humanist approach to Marxist theory, his sociological and methodological contributions to the study of everyday life and his theory of the production of space. These elements of Lefebvre's thought are explored through detailed investigations of the relationships between law, legal form and processes of abstraction; the spatial dimensions of neoliberal configurations of state power; the political and aesthetic aspects of the administrative ordering of everyday life; and the 'right to the city' as the basis for asserting new forms of spatial citizenship. Chris Butler argues that Lefebvre's theoretical categories suggest a way for critical legal scholars to conceptualise law and state power as continually shaped by political struggles over the inhabitance of space. This book is a vital resource for students and researchers in law, sociology, geography and politics, and all readers interested in the application of Lefebvre's social theory to specific legal and political contexts"--Provided by publisher Cover ......Page 1 Henri Lefebvre: Spatial Politics, Everyday Life and the Right to the City ......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Introduction......Page 12 Part I: Theoretical Orientations......Page 20 1. The Social Theory of Henri Lefebvre......Page 22 Lefebvre and Marxist Philosophy......Page 24 Lefebvre and Critical Social Theory......Page 30 The Critique of Everyday Life......Page 34 The Everyday, Rhythmanalysis and Social Struggle......Page 42 2. The Production of Space......Page 48 Space and Philosophy......Page 49 Space and Production......Page 53 The Historical Emergence of Abstract Space......Page 56 The Contradictions of Abstract Space......Page 62 Part II: Spatial Politics, Everyday Life and the Right to the City......Page 66 3. Space, Abstraction and Law......Page 68 Abstract Space and the Logic of Visualisation......Page 69 Abstraction Revealed: Visualisation and Aesthetic Form......Page 72 Abstraction Evaded?: The Myth of Institutional Transparency......Page 74 Abstraction Embodied: Space, Mirror and Language......Page 76 Abstraction Imposed: Space, Violence and Law......Page 83 Beyond the Violence of Abstraction......Page 86 4. State Power and the Politics of Space......Page 92 The State and the Production of Space......Page 93 The State Mode of Production, Urban Governance and Neoliberalism......Page 100 The Politics of Space......Page 108 5. Modernity, Inhabitance and the Rhythms of Everyday Life......Page 115 Everyday Life and the Crisis of Modernity......Page 118 Suburbia, Habitat and Bureaucratic Power......Page 124 Dwelling and Inhabitance......Page 132 The Body, Inhabitance and Mobility......Page 136 Tragedy and Utopia in the Everyday......Page 141 6. The Right to the City and the Production of Differential Space......Page 144 Concrete Utopia and the Politics of Space......Page 145 The Right to the City......Page 154 The Right to Difference......Page 163 The Production of Differential Space......Page 167 Conclusions and Openings......Page 169 Bibliography......Page 171 Index......Page 190