Lefebvre for Architects

by Nathaniel Coleman

While the work of Henri Lefebvre has become better known in the English-speaking world since the 1991 translation of his 1974 masterpiece, The Production of Space , his influence on the actual production of architecture and the city has been less pronounced. Although now widely read in schools of architecture, planning and urban design, Lefebvre’s message for practice remains elusive; inevitably so because the entry of his work into the Anglosphere has come with repression of the two most challenging aspects of his romanticism and Utopia, which simultaneously confront modernity while being progressive.
Contemporary discomfort with romanticism and Utopia arguably obstructs the shift of Lefebvre’s thinking from being objects of theoretical interest into positions of actually influencing practices. Attempting to understand and act upon architecture and the city with Lefebvre but without Utopia and romanticism risks muting the impact of his ideas. Although Utopia may seem to have no place in the present, Lefebvre reveals this as little more than a self-serving affirmation that ‘there is no alternative’ to social and political detachment. Demanding the impossible may end in failure but as Lefebvre shows us, doing so is the first step towards other possibilities. To think with Lefebvre is to think about Utopia, doing so makes contact with what is most enduring about his project for the city and its inhabitants, and with what is most radical about it as well.
Lefebvre for Architects offers a concise account of the relevance of Henri Lefebvre’s writing for the theory and practice of architecture, planning and urban design. This book is accessible for students and practitioners who wish to fully engage with the design possibilities offered by Lefebvre’s philosophy.

Genres: Architecture, Philosophy

172 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 12, 2014

Reviews

[daddy del · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book as part of my architectural assignment in University. To be honest, Nathaniel Coleman did a brilliant job summarizing, synthesizing, and making me understand Henri Lefebvre's philosophy on Utopia. I would like to remind again, this is not a book about Utopia. This is a book about Henri Lefebvre's ideology on Utopia, and using it to adapt into the Built Environment . The book is largely based from Lefebvre's 1974, The Production of Space. To write a review on this book is highly difficult, though the author did his best in sequencing through chapters, but its only natural to have fragmented elements all over the place. Hence, I will give important points that I found useful for my 2020 assignment.

Pg 43 - Utopia is gradual rather than destructive.

Pg 46 - Utopia needs to be experimented. Planners and Architects refuses to experiment on the go because it might reduce confidence of outcome projects.

Pg 47 - Architects focus on visual more than function.

Pg 49 - Modern architecture and planning is actually positivism masquerading as Utopia. Redevelopment schemes are missing practical dimension, reflection and research.

Pg 50 - It is important to research social, political, and spatial to create Utopia.

Pg 51 - One must want the impossible to realize the possible.

Pg 66 - Space is understood through action or event.

Pg 69 - Repetition has everywhere defeated uniqueness.

Pg 70 - The quantifiable trumps the qualitative. Work vs Product. Unique Art vs Reproducible Visual.

Pg 79 - Urban and rural were forming unity, nearly rendering Utopia but was destroyed by industrialization.

Pg 114 - Hegemony and homogeneity are refused in Mediterranean.

Pg 117 - Capitalism kills nature. It kills the town...artistic creation, creative capacity...dislocates humans.


Vocabulary
'Possible-impossible' = Utopia
'The possible' = Everyday life
'Hegemonic' = Power controlling shape (space)
'Logico-epistemological space' = Space without control of power.

Triadic Analysis
Thesis - Antithesis - Synthesis
Past - Present - Future
Possible - Probably - Impossible

[Laleh Abr]

ترجمه فصل دوم کتاب اشتباهات عجیب غریب دارد. ساختار اغلب جملات ترجمه شده غلط است و معنایی متفاوت از متن اصلی به ذهن متبادر می کند.
فصل اول رو مقایسه نکردم و این فقط حاصل مقایسه دو صفحه از ترجمه فصل دوم با متن اصلی است.
اما اصل کتاب را بسیار توصیه می کنم. به شدت ترغیب شدم سایر آثار نویسنده که استاد و پژوهش گر معماری است را بخوانم.

[Faezeh Khatibzadeh · Rating 3 out of 5]

دقیقاً فصل دوم که درباره‌ی تولید فضا صحبت کرده بود و برام از همه‌ی فصل‌های کتاب مهم‌تر بود از همه سخت‌تر و نامرتب‌تر بود. از یک طرف می‌دونم که کلاً تولید فضا متن سنگین و پیچیده‌ای داره، اما خب من همزمان با خوندن کتاب اصلی این کتاب رو خوندم تا این پیچیدگی برام کمتر بشه که به هیچ عنوان به این هدف نرسیدم. سه تا ستاره می‌دم چون فصل اولش باعث شد که با پیش‌زمینه‌ی فکری لوفور آشنا بشم که برای درک بهتر ایده‌هاش مفید بود. فصل سوم هم به‌مراتب از فصل دوم بهتر بود. راجع‌به آخرین کتاب لوفور و ایده‌ی ضرب‌آهنگ کاوی‌ش صحبت کرده بود. همچنین کتابش پاورقی‌های خوب و به‌جایی داشت.

[Joe Liang · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the whole thing and still don't understand Lefebvre, but this book is a good overview of all of Lefebvre's main ideas. Good summary outline introduction.