Relations between Society, Space and the Environment in the Different Conceptualizations of the City

Abstract

One of the concerns that arise when one thinks of the current environmental crisis is that man has lost control over the setting in which he lives. Space, which is becoming increasingly urbanized, forces major adaptation processes to be set in train, but is also open to undertaking the changes designed to make it more sustainable. This situation encourages us to rethink the relationship between society and space. This document explores the role of space and the environment in the sociological literature, since its importance has grown in the wake of the transformation of studies on the urban phenomenon in recent decades. In particular, this review seeks to investigate how the authors have answered the question: To what extent is space a cause or an effect of the city’s social configuration?The problem has been present throughout the intellectual, philosophical, scientific andsociological tradition interested in the physical configuration of human societies, particularlyamong the forerunners of current environmentalism, which have highlightedthe role of space in the reality of living things.