Urban Theory: Lefebvre, Harvey, and Social Justice

Henri Lefebvre: The Trialectics of Space

• Perceived Space (Spatial Practice): Physical reality, daily routines, and commuting networks.
• Conceived Space (Representations of Space): The abstract space of planners, maps, and technocrats; the dominant space in capitalism.
• Lived Space (Representations of Space): The symbolic, emotional, and clandestine space of inhabitants.

In the modern city, conceived space often crushes lived space. The "Right to the City" represents the ongoing struggle to reclaim lived space.

David Harvey: Political Economy and Dispossession

Harvey argues that cities are built not for human well-being, but to absorb surplus capital. When companies generate excess profit, they invest in infrastructure like skyscrapers.

Dispossession: The system extracts value from marginalized neighborhoods through evictions to release land for speculation, a process known as gentrification.

Eric Klinenberg: Social Infrastructure

Physical places—such as libraries, parks, and sidewalks—determine whether people interact or remain isolated.

• Chicago Heat Wave: Mortality rates were significantly higher in neighborhoods with degraded social infrastructure compared to socially active neighborhoods.
• Palaces for People: Libraries are essential because they provide dignified, free, and open spaces where social capital is generated.

Iris Marion Young: Structural Injustice

Injustice, such as homelessness, often occurs without a clear "villain." It is the result of thousands of legal, normal actions driven by market dynamics and zoning.

Responsibility Models

1. Liability Model: Looks backward to seek an individual culprit to punish; it fails to address structural issues.
2. Social Connection Model: Looks forward. We are all responsible because we participate in these structures (e.g., buying cheap clothes), creating a shared political responsibility to change the rules.

Avery Kolers: Restitution and Solidarity

If you benefit from an injustice—such as inheriting property within a racist system—you have a duty of restitution, even if you did not personally cause the harm.

Solidarity is not charity or empathy; it is the act of joining victims to dismantle the systems that grant unfair equity.

Saskia Sassen: The Global City and Expulsion

The global economy no longer just creates inequality; it creates expulsion. Expulsion is a radical process where people are ejected from the system and rendered invisible, such as refugees. The "Global City" serves as the command center where the power to execute these expulsions is concentrated.