ABSTRACT
Emancipatory socio-spatial change can be by no means only a matter of a ‘right to the city’ – not even within the interpretive framework of the Lefebvrian concept of ‘the urban’, whose scope goes beyond the geographical entity called ‘city’. A much more visceral questioning of the model of socio-spatial organisation inherited from capitalism than the one promised by the project of the right to the city. A socio-spatial order requires much more than a right to the city: it demands a right to the planet. In spite of all the classical and contemporary contributions, much remains to be done – and in this regard Henri Lefebvre contribution is ultimately more a curb than a stimulus. It is contradictory and insufficient: but its somewhat ambiguous rejection of bureaucratic ‘socialism’ leaves us without a clear and operational view on alternative technology, spatial deconcentration/territorial decentralisation and the need to reduce eco-stress – themes on which the left-libertarians have made a significant contribution.
