‘The Production of Service Space'

As the dust jacket to the English translation of The production of space ¹ points out, Henri Lefebvre’s 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 connects with each of these subjects and, according to some, it would be deplorable to interpret Lefebvre’s insights on space outside of his wider interests and philosophical preoccupations. It is not our intention, however, to convey the full, meandering range of Lefebvre’s thought, nor to catalogue his works. Others have done that: within the discipline of human geography, Ed Soja in particular has drawn attention to the breadth of Lefebvre’s writing. Rather, our aim is more modest, in that we wish to convey something of the richness of Lefebvre’s analysis of social space, as well as its limitations (to be found mainly in the notes), and to illustrate both aspects through the abstract space of finance. In this case, it is the abstract space of the City of London which provides the illustrative context.