Institute of Network Society (INS) 2017 Seminar Series: Henri Lefebvre and the Critique of Everyday Life

The Institute of Network Society (INS) 2017 Seminar Series resource archive, hosted by the China Academy of Art (CAA), is an academic repository documenting the preliminary lecture series and text-reading seminars leading up to the 2nd Network Society Annual Conference ("Walking with Lefebvre: Spatial Political Economy and the Critique of Everyday Life in the Digital Age"). Spearheaded by Prof. Huang Sunquan, the platform presents detailed transcriptions, pedagogical frameworks, and critical reading itineraries focused on the core texts of French philosopher and sociologist Henri Lefebvre. Key modules cover Lefebvre's critical spatial theory, including The Production of Space, The Right to the City, The Urban Revolution, and the three-volume milestone Critique of Everyday Life. The lectures examine Lefebvre’s synthesis of Hegelian-Marxist praxis, the Situationist International, urban revolution models, spatial political economy, and digital spatial politics. By re-evaluating Lefebvre's concepts—such as the "right to information," spatial alienation, and the "moment"—in the context of contemporary digital networks and urban informatics, the archive serves as a crucial bridge between classical critical theory and modern media ecology. As an essential open educational resource, this repository provides open-access primary lectures, reading guides, and theoretical transcriptions for undergraduate and postgraduate students, media theorists, urban sociologists, spatial designers, and digital culture researchers studying spatial political economy, critical media theory, and urban sociology.