Uneven Development - Nature, Capital, and the Production of Space

This work, Uneven Development: Nature, Capital, and the Production of Space, by Neil Smith, one of the leading figures in critical geography, is the product of passionate labor. Starting his thesis where Henri Lefebvre left off in The Production of Space, Smith centers nature as seen, thought, and examined in abstract and concrete spaces, ranging from human nature to the built environment, from the urban scale to the geography of colonialism and the globality of imperialism. By examining nature, capital, and space as a whole, he materializes nature, freeing it from the metaphysical character of approaches that treat it as an external "object" to humanity.

Contrary to the claims of Frankfurt School theorists, he points out how capitalist development dynamics take on an uneven character across various scales of space, given that nature is within the scope of human productive activity and that humans transform it along with themselves within given conditions. Smith expands the scope of critical spatial theory by bringing together historical geography with the countryside, urban structures with forests, and factories in South Asia with the plains of America. Even national parks benefit from this!

David Harvey: "Neil Smith’s Uneven Development is an intellectually and politically empowering endeavor, an inquiry into vital aspects of the human condition in a non-dogmatic and broad-ranging framework, a work that can still inspire us and teach us much about that other world which is truly possible. It deserves careful reading and re-reading. You will not regret it."