The Right to the City and Reading the Right to the City Critical Reading Worksheet French sociologist and philosopher, Henri Lefebvre’s work focuses on wide variety of ideas and concepts. He wrote extensively about the concepts of everyday life, the production of (urban) space and cities. The Right to the City may be Lefebvre’s most widely recognized concept. Lefebvre published The Right to the City in 1968, and this term became popularized when the May 1968 student/worker rebellion in Paris took up Lefebvre’s call for a Right to the City as one of their slogans. More recently, The Right to the City has become a unifying banner for a variety of political groups working on urban issues. Lefebvre’s makes an intellectual case for the right to the city. Like many philosophical arguments, he spends a great deal of time setting-up his argument, defining the concepts it is grounded in, and situating his ideas into the larger academic conversation. Much of the article will be difficult to understand without having some previous knowledge about the urban condition. The purpose of this worksheet is to help you navigate through the article and to highlight the pages that you need to focus on in order to understand Lefebvre’s call for a Right to the City. You will also read an article about homelessness in Pretoria, South Africa that applies Lefebvre’s concept of the right to the city to the everyday survival strategies people use while living on the streets. “Homelessness in Pretoria: Exploring the survival challenges of the homeless and their right to the city” is a much more straightforward article that is easier to understand. You will most likely find Lefebvre’s writing to be difficult. Don’t get discouraged. Struggle through it using this worksheet as a guide and know that the second article will be much easier to read and understand. Reading #1: The Right to the City by Henri Lefebvre In pages 147-157, Lefebvre establishes the need for a right to the city by critiquing the ways in which cities are conceived and constructed. You should skim through this part of the reading, doing your best to understand what he is saying, but not feeling pressured to read and re-read sections until you comprehend them. Just try to get a sense of his main ideas, don’t worry too much about details. As you read, answer the following questions: 1. Read the second, full paragraph on page 148 (It starts with “The science of the city…”) What is Lefebvre critiquing in this paragraph? Can you glean any information about how he conceptualizes cities and urban life from this section? 2. Lefebvre was also concerned with the accelerated urbanization that was occurring alongside the increased commodification of urban space and life. Urban theorists borrow a concept from Marx (use value vs. exchange value) to discuss some of these contradictions. Exchange-value refers to the price or market value of an object and use-value refers to the intrinsic value people pl.

1. The Right to the City and Reading the Right to the City
Critical Reading Worksheet
French sociologist and philosopher, Henri Lefebvre’s work
focuses on wide variety of ideas and concepts. He wrote
extensively about the concepts of everyday life, the production
of (urban) space and cities. The Right to the City may be
Lefebvre’s most widely recognized concept. Lefebvre
published The Right to the City in 1968, and this term became
popularized when the May 1968 student/worker rebellion in
Paris took up Lefebvre’s call for a Right to the City as one of
their slogans. More recently, The Right to the City has become
a unifying banner for a variety of political groups working on
urban issues.
Lefebvre’s makes an intellectual case for the right to the city.
Like many philosophical arguments, he spends a great deal of
time setting-up his argument, defining the concepts it is
grounded in, and situating his ideas into the larger academic
conversation. Much of the article will be difficult to understand
without having some previous knowledge about the urban
condition. The purpose of this worksheet is to help you navigate
through the article and to highlight the pages that you need to
focus on in order to understand Lefebvre’s call for a Right to
the City.
You will also read an article about homelessness in Pretoria,
South Africa that applies Lefebvre’s concept of the right to the
city to the everyday survival strategies people use while living
on the streets. “Homelessness in Pretoria: Exploring the
survival challenges of the homeless and their right to the city”
is a much more straightforward article that is easier to
understand.

2. You will most likely find Lefebvre’s writing to be difficult.
Don’t get discouraged. Struggle through it using this worksheet
as a guide and know that the second article will be much easier
to read and understand.
Reading #1: The Right to the City by Henri Lefebvre
In pages 147-157, Lefebvre establishes the need for a right to
the city by critiquing the ways in which cities are conceived and
constructed. You should skim through this part of the reading,
doing your best to understand what he is saying, but not feeling
pressured to read and re-read sections until you comprehend
them. Just try to get a sense of his main ideas, don’t worry too
much about details. As you read, answer the following
questions:
1. Read the second, full paragraph on page 148 (It starts with
“The science of the city…”) What is Lefebvre critiquing in this
paragraph? Can you glean any information about how he
conceptualizes cities and urban life from this section?
2. Lefebvre was also concerned with the accelerated
urbanization that was occurring alongside the increased
commodification of urban space and life. Urban theorists
borrow a concept from Marx (use value vs. exchange value) to
discuss some of these contradictions. Exchange-value refers to
the price or market value of an object and use-value refers to
the intrinsic value people place on an object. How does
Lefebvre incorporate this concept into his argument (see pages
152-3)?

3. 3. In earlier writings on the history of the Paris Commune,
Lefebvre referred to the city as an oeuvre (loosely translated an
artistic work or a body of artistic work, see pages 156-7). How
do you think this concept of the city as oeuvre relates to the
notion of the Right to the City?
Read from page 157, first full paragraph (begins with “Among
the contradictions characteristic of our time”…) to the end of
the article, page 159. This is the section of the article where
Lefebvre introduces and outlines the concept of the right to the
city.
4. How does Lefebvre describe and define the Right to the City
in these pages?
5. Who must assert their Right to the City? Why?
6. Does Lefebvre outline any specific rights that this Right to
the City entails (like are outline in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights)? If so, what are they? If not, what do you think
they would be?
Many urban scholars and activists find the concept of the Right

4. to the City to be a useful framework for talking about issues of
access, participation, opportunity, inclusion, and equality in
cities. Now read the second article, “Homelessness in Pretoria:
Exploring the survival challenges of the homeless and their
right to the city.” Read this article in its entirety. It should be
much easier to read and understand. Don’t worry too much
about the methodology section (pgs. 430-431). Answer the
following questions:
1. List some of the survival challenges that people experiencing
homelessness face in Pretoria. How many of these challenges
are universal to the experience of homelessness around the
world, including here in Portland, and how many are unique to
Pretoria or southern Africa?
2. Are homeless people denied a right to the city? Provide
examples from the reading or from your own
observations/experiences in Portland to support your ideas.
3. If all inhabitants of Pretoria (or Portland) were guaranteed a
“right to the city,” how would the lives of homeless people
change? What would this “right to the city” entail and why?