ancient cities

was critiqued as being written by a “naïve proponent”
of capitalist domination of development in
the third world.
Subsequently, Soja spent several years in selfcriticism
during which he engaged deeply with
theorizing space and its role within social theory.
In the early 1980s, when the realities of deindustrialization
in Los Angeles forced a union-based
coalition to seek advice from academics at UCLA,
Soja applied his theoretical knowledge of spatial
analysis to the questions of plant closures caused
by large-scale economic restructuring and technological
change. Soja, together with other academics
at UCLA, generated a number of publications
on social and spatial restructuring and laid the
foundation for his book Postmodern Geographies
(1999). In this critical spatial perspective of contemporary
social theory, Soja emphasized space as
an explanatory principle and called for a new
ontology in which space had the same precedence
as time and being. It was read widely in various
social science disciplines.
Soja refers repeatedly to Henri Lefebvre’s work
on space and Michel Foucault’s heterotopology as
strong influences on his way of thinking. His urge
to rethink and revise all established epistemologies
led him to write two more books on spatial and
social theory: Thirdspace (1996) and Postmetropolis
(2000). These two books, together with Postmodern
Geographies, constitute an exploration of the spatiality
of human life. They share a common theoretical
basis in what Soja calls a radical postmodern
perspective.
Soja’s work over the past two decades is a
synthesis of some of the most important writings
on cities. Its goal is to introduce social analysts
to the insights of “thinking spatially.” While
addressing the multiple dimensions of new urban
forms, this spatially based approach attends to
the continuities and discontinuities of the past.
Furthermore, it contributes to the theory of
social justice.
A master with words, Soja introduced several
new terms into human geography. As an outcome
of his investigation of economic restructuring and
spatial transformation in the Los Angeles region,
he coined the word exopolis for describing what he
encountered in Orange County. The term stands
for an urban region that is polycentric, where the
city has been turned inside-out and outside-in,
Soja, Edward W.
755
with vast new built environments and an intensified
social and spatial polarization. Thirdspace
was developed in the context of Soja’s analysis of
Lefebvre’s three moments of space—conceived,
perceived, and lived—and refers to fully lived
space. With it, Soja challenges binary ways of
thinking about space—for example, real versus
imagined—with an alternative perspective, namely,
the trialectics of spatiality. He invites the reader to
apply a “both/and also logic” to gain theoretical
insights from modern as well as postmodern perspectives.
Synekism is a term he developed more
recently—bringing together the works of thinkers
in economic geography, archaeology, and urban
studies—to describe the stimulus of urban agglomeration,
with regional networks of urban settlements
existing as sites of innovation and development
as well as of growth. Within this concentrated density
and heterogeneity, the social production and
reproduction of urban space, Soja argues, are the
spark for continuous innovation and creativity and
therefore generates the special advantages that
arise out of urban life.
Ute Lehrer
See also Exopolis; Heterotopia; Lefebvre, Henri; Los
Angeles School of Urban Studies; Social Production of
Space; Urban Geography; Urban Theory
Further Readings
Blake, Emma. 2002. “Spatiality Past and Present: An
Interview with Edward Soja, Los Angeles, 12 April
2001.” Journal of Social Archeology 2(2):139–58.
Evans, Gareth and Tara McPherson. 1991. “Watch This
Space: An Interview with Edward Soja.” Discourse
14(1):41–57.
Scott, Allen J. and Edward W. Soja, eds. 1996. The City:
Los Angeles and Urban Theory at the End of the
Twentieth Century. Berkeley: University of California
Press.
Soja, Edward W. 1968. The Geography of Modernization
in Kenya. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
———. 1989. Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion
of Space in Critical Social Theory. New York: Verso.
———. 1996. Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and
Other Real-and-Imagined Places. Malden, MA:
Blackwell.
———. 2000. Postmetropolis: Critical Studies of Cities
and Regions. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.