A reading on the concept of nature in Henri Lefebvre’s theory of the production of space

Abstract

Since the end of the last century, Henri Lefebvre’s theory about the production of space has been very assimilated into human geography and social sciences as a whole, although readings and interpretations are not completely complementary. Discussions about the right to the city, everyday life, and urbanization echo the debate about space promoted by the theory. However, the concept of nature present in Lefebvre’s work, especially in the context of his theory about the production of space, did not always figure in the debates. It went unnoticed or deserved little attention. Nevertheless, this concept has been focused on recent decades, and more recently, conflicting interpretations have emerged on this part of his work. This article argues that understanding the production of space requires a dialectical approach to the relationship between society and nature mediated by labor and production. Thus, contradictions in capitalism lead to environmental problems and simultaneously require careful analytical treatment, as the complex tension, interactions, and mediations between humans and nature cannot be reduced to a mechanistic dualism or an antinomy. This facilitates understanding of the politicization of nature as well as the politics of the politics of space, demonstrating that the ecological crisis is at the heart of the socio-spatial debate.