How Can We Share Space? Ontologies of Spatial Pluralism in Lefebvre, Butler, and Massey

Abstract

This article compares three arguments about how space might be shared: Lefebvre’s articulation of a shared right to urban space, Judith Butler’s argument for an ethical obligation to plurally cohabitat space, and Massey’s conceptualization of space and place as radically plural. Each theorist articulates a model of how to share space; this sharing is key to how each theorist imagines possibilities for justice. Rigorous reading of these different ways of imagining sharing space illustrates how difficult sharing space justly may be. The article synthesizes these three views by privileging a Masseyan perspective on plurality. It proposes a model for sharing space that is rooted in a tension between the physical limits to co-occupation, on one hand, and the possibility of agreement about use of space, on the other. The article closes with a brief discussion of the limits of spatial justice.