A Theoretical Inquiry of Space

This chapter provides the context for socio-political theories of space through the critique of the twentieth-century spatial turn arose against the dominancy of empirical conceptualizations. Empirical space displays the ground of positivist conceptions, embodied in physical categories of substance and time from Newton onward. The idea that “space contains” in an absolute and physical form was challenged by a groundbreaking shift that emphasized the social dimension in spatial thought. Through Henri Lefebvre, the chapter elaborates on the social space and the linkage followed by prominent names in spatial theories. Space does not only contain but also reciprocally constitutes; it constructs the praxis in subjectivities and is continually reconstructed by those experiencing it. The political economy of space in Harvey, the relational constitution of space in Massey, and, finally, space at the center of critical social thought in Soja. As a more concrete dimension, the discussion of the political emphasizes space within the Foucauldian axis of power that constitutes subjectivities with the praxis in the city and the public ground of visibility through Arendtian zoon politikon, as represented within the urban citizen.