Towards a Lefebvrian Methodology for Empirical Research

Abstract

While much has been said about Lefebvre’s role in the development of key theoretical concepts and debates in geographical research, applications of his oeuvre for empirical research remain underdeveloped. This is a missed opportunity. In this paper, building on parts of my recent book Space, Urban Politics, and Everyday Life. Henri Lefebvre and the U.S. City, I suggest a coherent methodological framework for empirical research that takes Lefebvre’s tripartite spatial dialectics as a starting point. This framework builds on four strands of research. First, Lefebvre’s regressive-progressive method and his historical sociology. Second, Critical Discourse Analysis for analysing representations of space. Third, reconstructive social research and Karl Mannheim’s sociology of knowledge and their methodological implications for sociological research of lived space. Fourth, Lefebvre’s rhythmanalysis and its mobilisation for empirical research on spatial practice. I argue that this framework allows for operationalising Lefebvre’s The Production of Space for empirical sociological and geographical research on the U.S. city and beyond.