A Reflection on the dialectic of the social and the spatial in the light of Lefebvre urban theory

The intertwining the social and the spatial, or what is called the social production of space, is the main theme of the theory of production of space that has been introduced by Henri Lefebvre in order to criticize the existent urban theories. In this theory, Lefebvre uses three concepts to explain the dialectic of spatial production: the space of representation, spatial representation and spatial practice. He applies this theory with these three concepts to introduce a thick description of everyday life. Rereading and criticizing Lefebvre theory is in fact a kind of revising and reformulating a range of ideas, concepts, methods and techniques which have been used in idealist and positivist philosophical traditions about space in past centuries. This theoretical contribution is about to introduce some themes for explaining the relation between urban dynamism and capital accumulation. It attempts specifically to analyze space as something that is produced and reproduced in social relations. The finding shows that this theory and some other more empirical contributions have the potential of explaining the nature and transformations of space.