Lefèbvre and the periphery: an interview with professor Marie Huchzermeyer

This interview provides a short introduction to some relevant but usually dismissed debates regarding the relationship between Lefèbvre’s oeuvre and peripheral/semi-peripheral regions of the world. By talking about some parallels between South African and Brazilian uses of Lefèbvrian concepts, on the one hand, and about Lefèbvre’s use of the reality of Latin American favelas to develop his own concepts, Professor Marie Huchzermeyer proposes challenges to the established scholar Anglophone view on the role of legal rights in the quest for the ‘right to city’. She alternatively points towards a bottom-up reading of the ‘right to the city’ that goes beyond the famous ‘far and cry’ claim, highlighting the importance of institutional advancements as a means within the Lefèbvrian framework for social change.