IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jworld/v1y2020i3p21-317d460060.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainability and Metabolic Revolution in the Works of Henri Lefebvre

Author

Listed:
  • Brian M. Napoletano

    (Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia 58087, Mexico)

  • Brett Clark

    (Department of Sociology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA)

  • John Bellamy Foster

    (Department of Sociology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA)

  • Pedro S. Urquijo

    (Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Morelia 58087, Mexico)

Abstract

Humanity’s present social–ecological metabolic configuration is not sustainable, and the need for a radical transformation of society to address its metabolic rifts with the rest of nature is increasingly apparent. The work of French Marxist Henri Lefebvre, one of the few thinkers to recognize the significance of Karl Marx’s theory of metabolic rift prior to its rediscovery at the end of the twentieth century, offers valuable insight into contemporary issues of sustainability. His concepts of the urban revolution, autogestion , the critique of everyday life, and total (or metabolic) revolution all relate directly to the key concerns of sustainability. Lefebvre’s work embodies a vision of radical social–ecological transformation aimed at sustainable human development, in which the human metabolic interchange with the rest of nature is to be placed under substantively rational and cooperative control by all its members, enriching everyday life. Other critical aspects of Lefebvre’s work, such as his famous concept of the production of space, his temporal rhythmanalysis, and his notion of the right to the city, all point to the existence of an open-ended research program directed at the core issues of sustainability in the twenty-first century.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian M. Napoletano & Brett Clark & John Bellamy Foster & Pedro S. Urquijo, 2020. "Sustainability and Metabolic Revolution in the Works of Henri Lefebvre," World, MDPI, vol. 1(3), pages 1-18, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jworld:v:1:y:2020:i:3:p:21-317:d:460060
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/1/3/21/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/1/3/21/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter Marcuse, 2009. "From critical urban theory to the right to the city," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2-3), pages 185-197, June.
    2. Stefano B. Longo & Brett Clark & Thomas E. Shriver & Rebecca Clausen, 2016. "Sustainability and Environmental Sociology: Putting the Economy in its Place and Moving Toward an Integrative Socio-Ecology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-17, May.
    3. Iván Franch-Pardo & Brian M. Napoletano & Gerardo Bocco & Sara Barrasa & Luis Cancer-Pomar, 2017. "The Role of Geographical Landscape Studies for Sustainable Territorial Planning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-23, November.
    4. Brett Clark & Daniel Auerbach & Stefano B. Longo, 2018. "The bottom line: capital’s production of social inequalities and environmental degradation," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(4), pages 562-569, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Xue, Jin, 2014. "Is eco-village/urban village the future of a degrowth society? An urban planner's perspective," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 130-138.
    2. Cloe X. Pérez-Valladares & Ana I. Moreno-Calles & Alejandro Casas & Selene Rangel-Landa & José Blancas & Javier Caballero & Alejandro Velazquez, 2020. "Ecological, Cultural, and Geographical Implications of Brahea dulcis (Kunth) Mart. Insights for Sustainable Management in Mexico," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-24, January.
    3. Alexandra Titz & Sosten S. Chiotha, 2019. "Pathways for Sustainable and Inclusive Cities in Southern and Eastern Africa through Urban Green Infrastructure?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-27, May.
    4. Shenjing He, 2012. "Two Waves of Gentrification and Emerging Rights Issues in Guangzhou, China," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(12), pages 2817-2833, December.
    5. Peter Marcuse, 2010. "In defense of theory in practice," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1-2), pages 4-12, February.
    6. Deqiang Cheng & Chunliu Gao, 2022. "Regionalization Research of Mountain-Hazards Developing Environments for the Eurasian Continent," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, September.
    7. Sergio Belda-Miquel & Jordi Peris Blanes & Alexandre Frediani, 2016. "Institutionalization and Depoliticization of the Right to the City: Changing Scenarios for Radical Social Movements," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 321-339, March.
    8. Cardullo, Paolo, 2017. "Gentrification in the mesh? Ethnography of Open Wireless Network - Deptford," OSF Preprints jm68s, Center for Open Science.
    9. Justus Uitermark & Walter Nicholls & Maarten Loopmans, 2012. "Cities and Social Movements: Theorizing beyond the Right to the City," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 44(11), pages 2546-2554, November.
    10. Michele Lancione, 2014. "Entanglements of faith: Discourses, practices of care and homeless people in an Italian City of Saints," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(14), pages 3062-3078, November.
    11. Sören Becker & James Angel & Matthias Naumann, 2020. "Energy democracy as the right to the city: Urban energy struggles in Berlin and London," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(6), pages 1093-1111, September.
    12. Ryan Gunderson & Claiton Fyock, 2022. "Are fossil fuel CEOs responsible for climate change? Social structure and criminal law approaches to climate litigation," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 12(2), pages 378-385, June.
    13. Hyun Bang Shin, 2011. "Right to the city and critical reflections on property rights activism in China’s urban renewal contexts," CASE Papers case156, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    14. Veikko Eranti & Taina Meriluoto, 2023. "PLURALITY IN URBAN POLITICS: Conflict and Commonality in Mouffe and Thévenot," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 693-709, September.
    15. Batara Surya & Syafri Syafri & Hernita Sahban & Harry Hardian Sakti, 2020. "Natural Resource Conservation Based on Community Economic Empowerment: Perspectives on Watershed Management and Slum Settlements in Makassar City, South Sulawesi, Indonesia," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-31, March.
    16. Witten, Karen & Kearns, Robin & Carroll, Penelope, 2015. "Urban inclusion as wellbeing: Exploring children's accounts of confronting diversity on inner city streets," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 349-357.
    17. Dalia Perkumienė & Rasa Pranskūnienė, 2019. "Overtourism: Between the Right to Travel and Residents’ Rights," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-17, April.
    18. Shomon Shamsuddin & Lawrence J Vale, 2017. "Lease it or lose it? The implications of New York’s Land Lease Initiative for public housing preservation," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(1), pages 137-157, January.
    19. Kurt Iveson, 2010. "Some critical reflections on being critical: Reading for deviance, dominance or difference?," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 434-441, August.
    20. Femke Van Noorloos, 2013. "Residential Tourism and Multiple Mobilities: Local Citizenship and Community Fragmentation in Costa Rica," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-20, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jworld:v:1:y:2020:i:3:p:21-317:d:460060. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.