Sustainability and Metabolic Revolution in the Works of Henri Lefebvre

Brian M. Napoletano, Brett Clark, John Bellamy Foster and Pedro S. Urquijo
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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

World, 2020, vol. 1, issue 3, 1-18

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.

Keywords: capital system; ecological Marxism; metabolic rift; social–ecological metabolism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G15 G17 G18 L21 L22 L25 L26 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 R51 R52 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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