Everyday Life and Urban Studies: Moving with Lefebvre Towards the 21st Century

Everyday Life and Urban Studies revisits the ordinary routines that shape urban life during the crises-ridden last century and early new millennium. Vast parts of Henri Lefebvre’s intellectual work on everyday life however remain underappreciated in urban studies. This book seeks to re-integrate Lefebvre’s Critique of Everyday Life into studies of urbanization. Starting in the 1920s, the book realigns historical insights with contemporary urban phenomena to uncover patterns of capitalist urbanization. By showing the relevance of grasping the minutiae of everyday life to understanding cities, the urban and urbanization today; everyday life, space, and philosophy are brought back in tension. This work combines analytical-methodological exploration, pedagogic mission, and theoretical advances to carve out an everyday-theory-based approach to urban studies situated at the interface of the spatial arts, the humanities, and the social sciences. This book examines the transformative potential that lies hidden in everyday life thereby unravelling a way to nurture hope amid unsettled urban conditions.

The book is essential for students, faculty, and researchers in the fields of urban studies, city planning, urban design, human geography, sociology, cultural studies, and political science.

Sabine Knierbein is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Urban Culture and Public Space at the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at Technische Universität Wien in Austria. She holds a Venia in urban studies and a Journey(wo)man’s certificate as a landscape gardener. Sabine has worked as Visiting Professor for Urban Political Geography at the University of Florence.