The important point that Lefebvre makes is that the way investors, businesspeople and the state thinks about space is according to its abstract qualities, that is, in terms of profit. This is called ‘abstract space’. At the same time, people use the space of their environment as a place to life. Lefebvre called this interactively used space of everyday life ‘social space’. Thus the uses proposed by government and business for abstract space, such as in the planning of a large city or suburban development of new houses may conflict with the existing social space, the way residents currently use the space. Lefebvre said that the conflict between abstract and social space is a basic one in society apart from that between classes. So he departs from the Marxian perspective that holds class conflict as the basic force in the history of capitalism.

Lefebvre Henri (1974) argues that space is not neutral and passive. Space is produced and reproduced and thus in a class divided society it represents the site of struggle. Moreover, all sorts of different spatial phenomenon—region, land, territory, site, and so on—should be understood as part of the same process of spatialization. This comprises three elements:

First, there are ‘spatial practices’. These range from individual routines to the systematic creation of zones and regions. Such spatial practices are over time concretized in the built environment and in the landscape. The most significant spatial practices are those of property and other forms of capital. Second, there are representations of space, the forms of knowledge and practices that organize and represent space, particularly through the techniques of planning and the state. E.g. monuments at the heart of the city. Third, there are collective experiences of space. In other words, these spaces of representation are experienced by the people. As Andy Merrifield points out, “Left unchecked, a market and for profit system always and everywhere flourishes through the abstract conceived realm.”² It could be said that by using spatial analysis Lefebvre was offering a critical analysis of modern capitalism.