Urban common space, heterotopia and the right to the city: Reflections on the ideas of Henri Lefebvre and David Harvey

Abstract

A city's common spaces are appropriated by capital that aims to guarantee the conditions necessary for the production-reproduction of capitalist relations. In this context, the challenge is to imagine and construct a very different type of city capable of breaking away from the dynamic of capital, founded on new forms of appropriation of the city, which implies articulating both theory and praxis. For this to occur, however, it is necessary to create new knowledge about the city and a strong anti-capitalist social movement focused on the transformation of daily urban life and involving new forms of appropriation of urban common spaces. It is in this context, and from a dialectic perspective, that this article articulates the ideas of Henri Lefebvre and David Harvey, seeking to contribute to an understanding of the production processes of space in contemporary capitalism, the discussion of the future of cities and perspectives on transition. To do so, the article addresses four central ideas: (i) the dialectic conception of space to problematize the production and appropriation of urban common spaces; (ii) the recognition of urban common spaces as spaces traversed by contradictions, disputes and material and symbolic con licts among different agents; (iii) the right to the city as a need and as a utopian project; and (iv) the challenge of articulating heterotopic practices from the perspective of creative rebellion for the right to the city and the transition to a new urban future.

THE URBAN POOR in DHAKA: PERSPECTIVES ON THE RIGHT TO THE CITY

“…Although they are severely deprived from all kinds of state's social services, which are viewed as their rights to the city, they are not organized for demanding their rights to the city. While the existing literature showed the urban poor people's collective and organized efforts for bringing successful right to the city movements in many of the Latin American countries, like Mexico, Brazil, Chile, as well as in some European and South Asian countries (Machabanski 2013, Santos Junior 2014, Adler 2015, Málovics et al 2019, Vesalon and Crețan 2019, in the case of the urban poor of Dhaka there is hardly any such potential of RTC movements. The lack of leadership, the temporality and the uncertainty of their existence in the city are some of the valid reasons for not claiming their rights.…”

Environmental Movements in Turkey from the Perspective of Commons

“…The common space occurs, and its rules are not written by an authority (state) as it is re-written by common users. Commoning practices in urban and rural areas within the context of right to the city, e.g., Occupy movement, Gezi Park protests and guerrilla gardening can be given as examples to commons as spaces (Santos Junior, 2014;Stavrides, 2016). 3.…”

“…Hardin's tragedy of the commons and Ostrom's common-pool resources (CPRs) and collective action model are the pioneers of this approach, which attempt to solve the problem of independent action in an interdependent situation in order to sustain natural resource systems (Hardin, 1968;Ostrom, 1990). Second approach takes commons as both tangible and intangible common spaces, identified by commoning practices, common property and use value (Santos Junior, 2014;Stavrides, 2016). Third approach takes commons as systems and a political rationality, including politics of the commons, common relations, intangible commons, commons as a resistance through grassroots movements (commoning practices) and share value (Federici, 2010;Kocagoz, 2015;De Angelis, 2017;Akcay and Kocagoz, 2018;Bayraktar, 2020).…”

TIC e movimentos sociais no urbano do século 21: interfaces e possibilidades na busca pelo direito à cidade

“…Cidades e Desafios à Governança no Século 21 moradia, mobilidade, saúde, saneamento, participação democrática, isto é, como uma demanda coletiva por um novo projeto de cidade ligado à criação de uma vida urbana alternativa, menos alienada e que promove a emancipação humana (SANTOS JÚNIOR, 2014). Deste modo, o direito à cidade deve ser entendido como uma "(...) ação que entra em contradição com o controle burocrático do Estado (...)" (CARLOS, 2010, p. 188).…”

“…Em todos estes casos, o direito ao livre acesso e ao movimento é garantido a todos (SANTOS JÚNIOR, 2014 Apoiadas em formas de comunicação interativas que tornam possível a aplicação desta tecnologia pelo governo e pela sociedade em favor da governança, as TIC colocam em "xeque" o modelo de gestão urbana usualmente praticado, baseado na prestação de serviços públicos, fornecimento de infraestrutura adequada e planejamento urbano das cidades, proporcionando melhoria nas condições de vida (REZENDE et al, 2003).…”