Writings on Cities

The work of Henri Lefebvre - the only major French intellectual of the post-war period to give extensive consideration to the city and urban life - received considerable attention among both academics and practitioners of the built environment following the publication in English of The Production of Space. This new collection brings together, for the first time in English, Lefebvre's reflections on the city and urban life written over a span of some twenty years.

The selection of writings is contextualized by an introduction - itself a significant contribution to the interpretation of Henri Lefebvre's work - which places the material within the context of Lefebvre's intellectual and political life and times and raises pertinent issues as to their relevance for contemporary debates over such questions as the nature of urban reality, the production of space and modernity.

Writings on Cities is of particular relevance to architects, planners, geographers, and those interested in the philosophical and political understanding of contemporary life.

Acknowledgements vii

Part I Introduction

1 Lost in Transposition-Time, Space and the City 3

Part II Right to the City

2 Preface 63

3 Industrialization and Urbanization 65

4 Philosophy and the City 86

5 Fragmentary Sciences and Urban Reality 94

6 Philosophy of the City and Planning Ideology 97

7 The Specificity of the City 100

8 Continuities and Discontinuities 104

9 Levels of Reality and Analysis 111

10 Town and Country 118

11 Around the Critical Point 122

12 On Urban Form 133

13 Spectral Analysis 139

14 The Right to the City 147

15 Perspective or Prospective? 160

16 The Realiziation of Philosophy 175

17 These on the City, the Urban and Planning 177

Part III Spaces and Politics

18 Introduction 185

19 Institutions of a Post-technological Society 198

Part IV Interviews

20 No Salvation away from the Centre? 205

21 The Urban in Question 209

Part V Elements of Rhythmanalysis

22 Seen from the Window 219

23 Rhythmanalysis of Mediterranean Cities 228

Index 241

Eleonore Kofman is Professor in the Department of International Studies at Nottingham Trent University.
Elizabeth Lebas is Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography at Middlesex University. Both have researched and written extensively on French urbanization and urban theory.

The work of Henri Lefebvre - the only major French intellectual of the post-war period to give extensive consideration to the city and urban life - received considerable attention among both academics and practitioners of the built environment following the publication in English of The Production of Space. This new collection brings together, for the first time in English, Lefebvre's reflections on the city and urban life written over a span of some twenty years.

The selection of writings is contextualized by an introduction - itself a significant contribution to the interpretation of Henri Lefebvre's work - which places the material within the context of Lefebvre's intellectual and political life and times and raises pertinent issues as to their relevance for contemporary debates over such questions as the nature of urban reality, the production of space and modernity.

Writings on Cities is of particular relevance to architects, planners, geographers, and those interested in the philosophical and political understanding of contemporary life.