SOCIAL – POLITICAL - ECONOMICAL

☭ SOCIAL SPACE Henri Lefebvre,1991

SOCIAL SPACE by Henri Lefebvre 1901 Born 1918-1920 Studied in Paris 1928-1958 Joins French Communists 1961-1965 Professor, Strassbourg 1965-1991 Nanterre Social Space (1974) “The production of space is a search for a reconciliation between mental space and real space… He seeks… to bridge the gap between the realms of theory and practice, between mental and social, and between philosophy and reality.” The Production of Space, Henri Lefebvre “Lefebvre contends that there are different modes of production of space from natural space to more complex spatialities whose significance is socially produced (i.e. social space).” Place, A Short Introduction, Tim Cresswell DAN Henri Lefebvre was born in France in 1901, studied in Paris until 1920, worked under philosophers in Paris until he joined the French Communist Party, PCF in 1928. He was a philosopher, writer, spokesperson for PCF for 30 years. In late 1950s he became a critic of PCF and Structuralism and in 1961 he begins as a professor at University of Strasbourg, and then at the University at Nanterre in 1965. While at the universities he begins to publish numerous books and essays on same basis as Social Space, commenting extensively on social philosophy and urbanism. Michel Trebitsch: Introduction to Critique of Everyday Life Mark Poster, 1975, Existential Marxism in Postwar France October magazine interview with Lefebvre, 1983 SOCIAL SPACE by Henri Lefebvre

WORK NATURE ROB PRODUCT

LAUREN VENICE VENICE…

LAUREN “The benefit to be derived from this conclusion is that it leaves us some prospect of discovering a dialectical relationship in which works are in a sense inherent in products, while products do not press all creativity into the service of repetition.” What role does intention play? Or VENICE?

RIGHT TO THE CITY David Harvey, 2008

Right to the City by David Harvey “The freedom to make and remake our cities and ourselves is, I want to argue, one of the most precious yet most neglected of our human rights.” The Right to the City, David Harvey “Since urbanization depends on the mobilization of a surplus product, an intimate connection emerges between the development of capitalism and urbanization.” DAN B.A. (Hons) St Johns College, Cambridge, 1957 PhD St Johns College, Cambridge, 1961. Post-doc, University of Uppsala, Sweden 1960–1961 Lecturer, Geography, University of Bristol, UK (1961–1969) Associate Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, (1969–1973) Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, Johns Hopkins University (1973–1987, and 1993–2001) Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, University of Oxford (1987–1993) Distinguished Professor, Dept. of Anthropology, City University of New York (2001–present) Geography and social theory; geographical knowledges; urban political economy and urbanization in the advanced capitalist countries; architecture and urban planning; Marxism and social theory; cultural geography and cultural change; environmental philosophies; environment and social change; ecological movements; social justice; geographies of difference; utopianism. Right to the City by David Harvey

Local Urban Renewal Paris, 1853-1868 Baron Haussman Transformed scale of urbanization Annexed suburbs & redesigned neighborhoods New debt financing institutions Paris became the “city of lights” and the “great centre of consumption” Paris Commune 1871 LAUREN “Haussmann clearly understood that his mission was to help solve the surplus-capital and unemployment problem through urbanization. Rebuilding Paris absorbed huge quantities of labour and capital by the standards of the time and, coupled with suppressing the aspirations of the Parisian workforce, was a primary vehicle of social stabilization.” “In the ensuing vacuum arose the Paris Commune, one of the greatest revolutionary episodes in capitalist urban history, wrought in part out of a nostalgia for the world that Haussmann had destroyed and the desire to take back the city on the part of those dispossessed by his works. Overextended and speculative financial system crashed Napoleon defeated Nostalgia and a desire to take back the city motivated revolution from the dispossessed

National Suburbanization United States, 1940s, 50’s, 60’s Robert Moses Transformed scale of urbanization Radical lifestyle changes Shifted center of political conservatism 1968 Revolts LAUREN “Through a system of highways and infrastructural transformations, suburbanization and the total re-engineering of not just the city but also the whole metropolitan region, [Moses] helped to resolve the capital-surplus Feminist, civil rights, and anti-war movements Violence after MLK assassination Paris – Left Bank Expressway protest Global property bubble burst in early 70’s Part of the revolution centered on urban housing and life, which had changed dramatically after white flight

Global Urbanization 1980s- Again transformed scale of urbanization Privatization of control over public urban space Lifestyle shift to “pacification by cappuccino” Mortgage Crisis? Occupy Movement? Global Protest? ROB Large scale “creative destruction” and class dispossession Is it possible for scattered local opposition movements to come together to address global issues?

Dispossession & Gentrification in Chicago? ROB

QUESTIONS What is the role of Architects? How can we create spaces that are social works? How can we protect and promote people’s right to the city? QUESTIONS