Annotation The aim of the series is interdisciplinary scholarly exchange pertaining to practices and concepts in the double perspective of space and time in studies informed by current theoretical approaches. Spatiality and temporality are treated as constructs in inextricable correlation with each other in contexts both historical and contemporary. The core concern is the role of space and time in people's sociocultural and life-world concepts of themselves and in media representations. Editorial Board:Jean-Marc Besse (Centre national de la recherche scientifique de Paris)Petr Bilek (Univerzita Karlova v Praze)Fraya Frehse (Universidade de S o Paulo)Harry Maier (Vancouver School of Theology)Elisabeth Mill n (DePaul University, Chicago)Simona Slanicka (Universit t Bern)Jutta Vinzent (University of Birmingham)Guillermo Zerme o (Colegio de M xico).

Henri Lefebvre's Critical Theory of Space offers a rigorous analysis and revival of Lefebvre’s works and the context in which he produced them. Biagi traces the historical-critical time-frame of Lefebvre's intellectual investigations, bringing to light a theoretical constellation in which historical methods intersect with philosophical and sociological issues: from Marxist political philosophy to the birth of urban sociology; from rural studies to urban and everyday life studies in the context of capitalism. Examining Lefebvre’s extended investigations into the urban sphere as well as highlighting his goal of developing a “general political theory of space” and of innovating Marxist thought, and clarifying the various (more or less accurate) meanings attributed to Lefebvre's concept of the “right to the city” (analysed in the context of the French and international sociological and philosophical-political debate), Henri Lefebvre's Critical Theory of Space ultimately brings the contours of Lefebvre’s innovative perspective—itself developed at the end of the “short twentieth century”—back into view in all its richness and complexity.

The articles take a decidedly interdisciplinary look at the opus of the French philosopher, sociologist and pioneer of spatial analysis Henri Lefebvre (1901-1991). His works are reflected upon from theoretical and practical perspectives by authors from various fields (literature, history, philosophy, sociology, ethnology) closely examining text references from Lefebvre.

Henri Lefebvre has considerable claims to be the greatest living philosopher. His work spans some sixty years and includes original work on a diverse range of subjects, from dialectical materialism to architecture, urbanism and the experience of everyday life. The Production of Space is his major philosophical work and its translation has been long awaited by scholars in many different fields. The book is a search for a reconciliation between mental space (the space of the philosophers) and real space (the physical and social spheres in which we all live). In the course of his exploration, Henri Lefebvre moves from metaphysical and ideological considerations of the meaning of space to its experience in the everyday life of home and city. He seeks, in other words, to bridge the gap between the realms of theory and practice, between the mental and the social, and between philosophy and reality. In doing so, he ranges through art, literature, architecture and economics, and further provides a powerful antidote to the sterile and obfuscatory methods and theories characteristic of much recent continental philosophy. This is a work of great vision and incisiveness. It is also characterized by its author's wit and by anecdote, as well as by a deftness of style which Donald Nicholson-Smith's sensitive translation precisely captures.

This book contributes to the foundations of a critical theory of communication as shaped by the forces of digital capitalism. One of the world's leading theorists of digital media Professor Christian Fuchs explores how the thought of some of the Frankfurt School's key thinkers can be deployed for critically understanding media in the age of the Internet. Five essays that form the heart of this book review aspects of the works of Georg LukAcs, Theodor W. Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Axel Honneth and Ju rgen Habermas and apply them as elements of a critical theory of communication's foundations. The approach taken starts from Georg LukAcs Ontology of Social Being, draws on the work of the Frankfurt School thinkers, and sets them into dialogue with the Cultural Materialism of Raymond Williams. Critical Theory of Communication offers a vital set of new insights on how communication operates in the age of information, digital media and social media, arguing that we need to transcend the communication theory of Habermas by establishing a dialectical and cultural-materialist critical theory of communication. "

Toward an Architecture of Enjoyment is the first publication in any language of the only book devoted to architecture by Henri Lefebvre. Written in 1973 but only recently discovered in a private archive, this work extends Lefebvre’s influential theory of urban space to the question of architecture. Taking the practices and perspective of habitation as his starting place, Lefebvre redefines architecture as a mode of imagination rather than a specialized process or a collection of monuments. He calls for an architecture of jouissance—of pleasure or enjoyment—centered on the body and its rhythms and based on the possibilities of the senses. Examining architectural examples from the Renaissance to the postwar period, Lefebvre investigates the bodily pleasures of moving in and around buildings and monuments, urban spaces, and gardens and landscapes. He argues that areas dedicated to enjoyment, sensuality, and desire are important sites for a society passing beyond industrial modernization. Lefebvre’s theories on space and urbanization fundamentally reshaped the way we understand cities. Toward an Architecture of Enjoyment promises a similar impact on how we think about, and live within, architecture.

Henri Lefebvre is now recognized as one of the most influential social theorists of the Twentieth Century. In English, his writings on cities, everyday life, and the production of space have become hugely influential across Cultural Studies, Sociology, Geography and Architecture. Henri Lefebve: Key Writings presents for the first time the full range of Lefebvre's thought. The selection reinforces the centrality of Lefebvre to current debates in social and spatial theory but also sets Lefebvre's work in the context of his broader philosophical and political concerns. The extracts are divided into sections, each separately introduced by the editors: Philosophy and Marxism; The Critique of Everyday Life; The Country and the City; History, Time and Space; Politics. Nearly all the extracts presented here are new translations and most have never appeared in English before. Henri Lefebvre (1901 - 1991) held a range of academic posts both in France and America and wrote over seventy books including The Production of Space and Critique of Everyday Life.