Firstspace

From Geography

Revision as of 16:15, 9 October 2011

First space is a concept by Edward Soja. The work of Soja is an interpretation of the work of Henri Lefebvre (The Production of Space, 1991). What Soja calls first space is in line with what Lefebvre identifies as spatial practice or perceived space (Lefebvre, 1991).

The First space is a physical space. It is our way of being able to reproduce that physical space. It is a material, visible and measurable, objective determination to space as a formal science. It is about the relations between society and nature and the human built environment (Kramsch lecture 21-09-1010).

According to Soja (1996) Firstspace is conventionally read at two different levels, one which concentrates on the accurate description of surface appearance, and the other which searches for spatial explanation in social, physical, and biophysical processes. The Firstspace perspective as said, is focused on the material world. The Secondspace perspective interprets this reality through imagined representations of spatiality, which are combined to form the Thirdspace. This is a creative recombination and extension of the first two perspectives (Soja, 1996).

References:

Lefebvre, Henri (1991) The Production of Space. Blackwell,Oxford

Soja, Edward W, (1996) Thirdspace Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. Blackwell,Oxford

Published by Sabrina Willems and Anouk Soomers