LIFE in a ZOO: Henri Lefebvre and the (social) production of (abstract) space in Liverpool

Thompson, M ORCID: 0000-0002-5691-4851 (2017) LIFE in a ZOO: Henri Lefebvre and the (social) production of (abstract) space in Liverpool. City, 21 (2). pp. 104-126.

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Abstract

Building on recent critical contributions towards conceptualising neighbourhood change as socially produced and politically ‘performed’, this paper takes a closer look at the work of Henri Lefebvre to understand the production of urban space as a deeply political process. A common critical characterisation of neighbourhood change—occurring through a grand Lefebvrean struggle between ‘abstract space-makers’ and ‘social space-makers’—is critically examined through an in-depth historical case study of the Granby neighbourhood in Liverpool. Here, these forces are embodied respectively in technocratic state-led comprehensive redevelopment, notably Housing Market Renewal and its LIFE and ZOO zoning models; and in alternative community-led rehabilitation projects such as the Turner Prize-winning Granby Four Streets Community Land Trust. By tracing the surprisingly intimate interactions and multiple contradictions between these apparently opposing spatial projects, the production of neighbourhood is shown to be a complex, often violent political process, whose historical trajectories require disentangling in order to understand how we might construct better urban futures.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	peerreview_statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope. aims_and_scope_url: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=ccit20
Uncontrolled Keywords:	production of space, abstraction, urban policy, neighbourhood regeneration, housing, community development
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	21 Sep 2020 14:16
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 23:40
DOI:	10.1080/13604813.2017.1353327
Related URLs:	Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3094363

Available Versions of this Item

• LIFE in a ZOO: Henri Lefebvre and the (social) production of (abstract) space in Liverpool. (deposited 17 Oct 2017 06:46)
  • LIFE in a ZOO: Henri Lefebvre and the (social) production of (abstract) space in Liverpool. (deposited 15 Jul 2020 09:42)
    • LIFE in a ZOO: Henri Lefebvre and the (social) production of (abstract) space in Liverpool. (deposited 21 Sep 2020 14:16) [Currently Displayed]