Passage One

On the Abstractness and Inwardness of Modern Urban Space

1．If we go to other professions than architects and planners to search for a deeper understanding of the lack of street life in most parts of contemporary cities，there is generally not much interest in the question．In North America，if asked，many would blame it on poverty，drugs and crime，the homeless and the gangs:in short the undesirables．In North Western Europe the weather would get part of the blame，although this is only partly true，as is shown by the growth of downtown street-life here in the last decades．Many would also blame it on the car．Others would blame TV，the average American watching more than 30 hours a week，the Europeans not quite reaching this level yet，but catching up．

2．Only a few would see the lack of street-life as a symptom of deep structures of modern society．Two intellectuals that have done it since the end of the 1960s—are the French philosopher Henri Lefebvre^[4]and the New York sociologist Richard Sennett^[5]．Both struggle to get street life back not only in sheer defiance of deep social obstacles，but to get rid of the roots of these obstacles themselves．Together they show，that to get life back on the streets we have to deal with forces as strong as Capital，God and Enlightenment．Lefebvre and Sennett—put together here，as far as we know，for the first time in the diagram(p．118)—see the problems of modern urban space on two different polar axes．Lefebvre focuses most heavily on the contradiction of abstract space versus differential space，Sennett most heavily on the contradiction of spatial inwardness versus spatial outwardness．These spatial contradictions，if crossed，can define different aspects of the our city of interest，and state our problem of street-life in general terms．

3．According to Lefebvre we live in a capitalist society，that has a general tendency to turn the formerly absolute space of nature and early human culture into abstract space．Capitalist space is produced as commodity and as distribution networks．Therefore，seen from an exchange point of view，it should be as“general”as possible．Industrialised mass housing and mass office building are other obvious examples．But over and over again，economic competition and political struggle create a contradictory space，adding new differences to the original differences of space given by nature and history that so far have not been completely“neutralised”．In this way，according to Lefebvre，spaces of difference are produced to some extent，although the general tendency is the production of abstract space．Since the 1960s differential space is also to some extent produced as a result of the growing importance of leisure and non-labour—a tendency of growing importance that may lead to a paradigmatic change in the concept of space．

4．According to Sennett，we also live in a capitalist society，but as he does not believe in Lefebvre's political ideas of great political revolutions，Sennett has to focus differently in his spatial analyses．If the capitalist economic“mechanisms”cannot be basically changed within a reasonable time，or without too large human costs，then the struggle for a better city has to be primarily cultural—not primarily politicaleconomical．This interpretation of the differences of Lefebvre's and Sennett's basic points of view has to be included in the understanding of why Sennett has to fight God and Enlightenment instead of Capitalism as such．That the struggle for a better city is in vain without a cultural perspective，is also Lefebvre's point of view，as he sees no attractive cultural quality in socialist city building so far，but the cultural perspective is not the starting point of his analyses．

5．The statement of God and Enlightenment as the main villains in Sennett's universe must be further explained though，if we are to understand him right．The God in question is the Christian God，and the problematic aspect of Enlightenment is its quest for a Grand Unity of everything．For Sennett，the common denominator of Christianity and Enlightenment is the perversion of the relation between inside and outside in a way that promotes inwardness and cripples outwardness．The problem of Christianity goes all the way back to the early middle ages，as expressed by Augustin's rejection of the worldly city in favour of the city of Heavens．The problem of secular Enlightenment，on the other hand，is its attempt to overcome contradictions by escaping them in the name of unity，or by trying to brutally enforce a non-contradictory unity．This，of course，is doomed to fail．Inwardness continues as a result．To Sennett，the inward-outward axis of orientation is related to the questions of relations between private and public life(and private and public space)，as well as to the relations between the Self and the Others in more general terms．Sennett wants to turn people outward instead of inward—towards the streets and the encounter of human differences—instead of towards the home and the psychoanalyses with or without professional help．You could say that Sennett thinks it is both necessary and possible to break out of the mutual contradiction and unity that is a driving engine in most of Woody Allen's films—the alienating metropolis and a growing need for psychoanalyses．

6．But to turn outward，Lefebvre would say，is extremely difficult in a society based on private ownership to capital and land，and in a society dominated by large corporations and public bureaucracy．In spite of that，Lefebvre would agree that every possibility to turn outward should be cared for．In the end of The Production of Space he actually mentions the possibility of a reformist strategy towards differential space and a new society．(to be continued)

Questions for Understanding

1．Why does“street life”decline?Why do scholars show interest in“street life”?

2．Why does the author study Lefebvre and Sennett together?

3．Between Lefebvre and Sennett，who might be more a Marxist? Why?

4．Why does Sennett disapprove God and Enlightenment?In what way do you think God shares similarities with Enlightenment?

5．In what way does Lefebvre probably agree with Sennett?