I got to thinking about Henri Lefebvre and the Urban Revolution today and how what he's talking about might mean really to an individual like myself. His basic (its actually not very basic at all) argument is that the socio-political structure that governs the production of urban space hasn't yet evolved into something that really attacks the problems of "urbanism". Rather, the structure is still stuck in this mode of industrialization and production.

I think we can all agree that this postmodern world is far more evolved than that of the industrial era. Industry is no longer the driving force of cities. Because what is really building the city now? When i look at development in Toronto, i see the public good being put on the backburner by the city. The city is becoming an entrepeneur, selling itself, marketting it's "discovery districts" and gentrifying, gentrifying, gentrifying, because thats what builds commerce. And when did public space become non-democratic?

But the city is really only giving us what we want. Perhaps this is what the problem of urbanism boils down to. We, the people, too busy swallowing the neon lights to realize whats going on.