POLITICS AND SPACE/TIME
In: New left review: NLR, Heft 196, S. 65-84
ISSN: 0028-6060
ARCHITECTURE AND "THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT" ARE NOW INFUSED BY A SHOPPING-MALL CULTURE THAT DEPRIVES LIVED SPACES OF BOTH COHERENCE AND COMPLEXITY. IN THIS ESSAY, THE AUTHOR ARGUES THAT THIS CONCEPTUALIZATION OF SPACE IS NOW WIDELY SHARED AND LIES BEHIND THE APPROACH OF ERNESTO LACLAU'S "NEW REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION OF OUR TIME." SHE IS CONCERNED THAT SUCH SCHOLARS VIEW GEOGRAPHIC SPACE AS A PASSIVE AND DEPOLITICIZED ARENA, SEEING ONLY TIME AS THE DOMAIN OF CONTRADICTION AND DYNAMISM. SHE POINTS OUT THAT RADICAL AND FEMINIST GEOGRAPHERS HAVE UNDERMINED ANY SUCH DICHOTOMY OF SPACE AND TIME. THEY HAVE SHOWN NOT ONLY THAT SPACE IS SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED BUT THAT SOCIETY IS SPATIALLY CONSTRUCTED; THEREFORE, CHAOS, CONTRADICTION, AND CHANGE ARE INTEGRAL TO THE SPATIAL.