ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on central distinction in Henri Lefebvre’s dialectical thought, by introducing other related polarities: between ends and means, thing and flow, spatial form and temporal process; and between objects and activities, or nouns and verbs. The co-op movement made real steps towards resolving the alienation at root of problems of housing deprivation and embedded the seeds of an alternative model of regeneration which would later inspire a generation of grassroots action in immersive, participatory and democratic dwelling design: Liverpool’s budding Community Land Trust movement. The chapter outlines two opposing tendencies in the historical production of space–towards the abstract logic of Logos, privileging absolute ends and spatial closure, or the ‘erotic’ life of Eros, amenable to open-ended and evolving interaction–and then sought to identify these forces in empirical developments over Liverpool’s housing history.
