Symbols of Lefebvre:
A response to Lefebvre’s text The Production of Space
Symbols of Lefebvre:
A response to Lefebvre’s text The Production of Space
A body of work responding to this text has been created, exploring Lefebvre’s examination of space as both a social and constructed product. This examination questions how dominant and imposing structures, erected in space, are conceived by how planners (architects and engineers) determine the productive uses of urban territory. The main visualizations supporting these conceptions include the use of grids (organizing principles), fragmented views (plans and elevations), and capital (plotting out of ‘productive’ physical space). This exploration, both illustrated and textual work within this project, relies on the concept of “spatial symbols”. The symbol for exploration here is the construction crane, responsible for the development of contemporary skylines across the planet. The crane is both a powerful and iconic symbol, intrinsic within the development of structures for human use. The construction crane embodies key elements from Lefebvre’s discourse around the production of space and therefore serves as an apt symbol for integration within this work. It offers dualities (appearing frail but quite capable of lifting massive loads), its form producing vertically-oriented “phallic” forms (masculine, dominant space), and its construction reflective of the grid-based structures it aids in producing (the systematized forms derived from gridded matrices and organizing principles). This paper will explore concepts of gender, the regulation and policing of public/private space, the violence exerted onto the environment (and the concealment of this violence) within the development of space, and the tools/strategies implemented while envisioning or planning space.
The final article can be read on Medium.