Tensions over the production of urban public space came to the fore in summer 2013 with mass protests in Turkey sparked by a plan to redevelop Taksim Gezi Park, Istanbul. In London, concomitant proposals to refurbish an area of the ’South Bank’ historically used by skateboarders were similarly met by staunch opposition. Through an in-depth ethnographic examination of London’s South Bank, this book explores multiple dimensions of the production of urban public space. Drawing on user accounts of the significance of public space, as well as observations of how the South Bank is ’practised’ on a daily basis, it argues that public space is valued not only for its essential material characteristics but also for the productive potential that these characteristics, if properly managed, afford on a daily basis. At a time when policy-makers, urban planners and law enforcement authorities simultaneously grapple with pressures to deal with social 'problems' (such as street drinking, vandalism, and skateboarding) and accusations that new modes of urban planning and civic management infringe upon civil liberties and dilute the publicity of ’public’ space, this book offers an insightful account of the daily exigencies of public spaces. In so doing, it questions the utility of the public/private binary for our understanding both of common urban space and of different sets of social practices, and points towards the need to be attentive to productive processes in how we understand and experience urban open space as public.

The Routledge Handbook of Henri Lefebvre,The City and Urban Society is the first edited book to focus on Lefebvre's urban theories and ideas from a global perspective, making use of recent theoretical and empirical developments, with contributions from eminent as well as emergent global scholars. The book provides international comparison of Lefebvrian research and theoretical conjecture and aims; to engage with and critique Lefebvre's ideas in the context of contemporary urban, social and environmental upheavals; to use Lefebvre's spatial triad as a research tool as well as a point of departure for the adoption of ideas such as differential space; to reassess Lefebvre's ideas in relation to nature and global environmental sustainability; and to highlight how a Lefebvrian approach might assist in mobilising resistance to the excesses of globalised neoliberal urbanism. The volume draws inspiration from Lefebvre's key texts (The Production of Space; Critique of Everyday Life; and The Urban Revolution) and includes a comprehensive introduction and concluding chapter by the editors. The conclusions highlight implications in relation to increasing spatial inequalities; increasing diversity of needs including those of migrants; more authoritarian approaches; and asymmetries of access to urban space. Above all, the book illustrates the continuing relevance of Levebvre's ideas for contemporary urban issues and shows – via global case studies – how resistance to spatial domination by powerful interests might be achieved. The Handbook helps the reader navigate the complex terrain of spatial research inspired by Lefebvre. In particular the Handbook focuses on: the series of struggles globally for the 'right to the city' and the collision of debates around the urban age, 'cityism' and planetary urbanisation. It will be a guide for graduate and advanced undergraduate teaching, and a key reference for academics in the fields of Human Geography, Sociology, Political Science, Applied Philosophy, Planning, Urban Theory and Urban Studies. Practitioners and activists in the field will also find the book of relevance.

This important book engages critically with Lefebvre’s spatial theories and challenges recent thinking about the nature of urban space. Research in three iconic post-industrial cities in the UK and North America, explains how urban public spaces, including differential space are socially produced.

Through an in-depth ethnographic examination of London's 'South Bank', this book explores the value widely presupposed on urban public space. Based on subjective accounts of the value of public space, as well as observations of how the South Bank is used and 'practised' on a daily basis, it argues that this value is not so much inherent to physical public space itself as it is derived through the everyday use and production of that space. Public space is valued not only for its essential material characteristics but also for the productive potential that these characteristics, if properly managed, afford on a daily basis.

Why is public space disappearing? Why is this disappearance important to democratic politics and how has it become an international phenomenon? Public spaces are no longer democratic spaces, but instead centres of private commerce and consumption, and even surveillance and police control. "The Politics of Public Space" extends the focus of current work on public space to include a consideration of the transnational - in the sense of moving people and transformations in the nation or state - to expand our definition of the 'public' and public space. Ultimately, public spaces are one of the last democratic forums for public dissent in a civil society. Without these significant central public spaces, individuals cannot directly participate in conflict resolution. "The Politics of Public Space" assembles a superb list of contributors to explore the important political dimensions of public space as a place where conflicts over cultural and political objectives become concrete.