Through space

Presenting a passionate debate for revitalizing how we imagine space, Doreen Massey, winner of the world's most prestigious geography prize, uses in *For Space* some traditional philosophical assumptions and some well-known ways of characterizing the 21st-century world, and from there, shows how they limit our understanding of both the challenge and the potential of space. The way we think about space matters. It changes our understanding of the world, our attitudes toward others, our policies. It affects, for example, how we understand globalization, how we approach cities, how we develop and practice a sense of place. If time is the dimension of change, then space is the dimension of the social: the contemporary coexistence of others. This is its challenge, which has been consistently avoided. *For Space* pursues this discussion through philosophical and theoretical engagement, as well as the expression of personal and political reflections. Doreen Massey raises questions such as: how best to characterize these so-called spatial times, how these implicit spatial assumptions shape our politics, and how we might develop a responsibility for place beyond place. “The fundamental argument of this book is that how we think about space matters,” the author states. “Space is an implicit dimension that shapes our structuring cosmologies. It modulates our understandings of the world, our attitudes toward others, our politics. It affects how we understand globalization, how we approach cities, and how we develop and practice a sense of place. If time is the dimension of change, then space is the dimension of the social: of the contemporary coexistence of others. And this is at once a pleasure and a challenge.” Doreen Massey’s *Through Space* is essential reading for anyone interested in space and the spatial turn in the social sciences and humanities. Serious, yet sometimes irreverent, it is a necessary manifesto, one that compels us to reimagine spaces for this time and confront its challenges.