The Limits to Lefebvre: rethinking the production of settler space

Abstract

In recent years, Lefebvre's "theory of the production of space" (Schmid, 2023) has seen a conceptual revitalization, in part driven by vast mutations within the spatial fabric of society. The pressing demands today for a critique of space, and an attendant unitary theory of space, warrants a re-evaluation of the production of space. The objective of this paper is to examine some of the limits to Lefebvre that persist within his project and offer insights into how they can be overcome.

Lefebvre generates his account of how capitalist abstract space came to dominate the production of space through a spatial history grounded in the conditions of European urban and rural development. This was not necessarily blind to global conditions of colonisation and imperialism, but the relative absence of these elements entail that his critique underappreciates the differentiated conditions of space within colonial and settler societies.

At the same time, his commitment to theorising through a fragmented and open totality opens useful possibilities for engaging with such differential conditions. In particular, this suggests the prospects for distinct formations of abstract space that depart from a standard model born from a Eurocentric history of space.

In response to this challenge, this paper delivers a critical engagement with Lefebvre's thought through a study of the production of settler space in Sydney, Australia. Drawing on archival material, the paper argues that Lefebvre's underlying approach to the critique of space is invaluable for understanding settler spaces.