Die Dissertation baut auf Henri Lefebvres Theorie einer sozialen Produktion des Raums auf und bietet eine ethnographisch fundierte Untersuchung der Komplexität urbaner Phänomene in der nordtadschikischen Stadt Khujand. Die drei Bestandteile einer sozialen Produktion des Raums – Konzeptualisierung, Wahrnehmung und Anpassung – stehen nicht isoliert voneinander, denn die Produktion von Raum erfolgt im Prozess ihres Zusammenwirkens. Die vorliegende Arbeit ist, vor diesem Hintergrund, die erste Monographie, welche die komplexen Zusammenhänge der Raumproduktion in einer peripheren zentralasiatischen Stadt zum zentralen Forschungsgegenstand nimmt. Nach einer Einführung in Theorie und Methoden wende ich mich der Produktion des mentalen Raums in Khujand zu. Ich erläutere unterschiedliche Ideologien von Raum und Urbanität, welche für Khujand relevant waren – etwa die „Islamisch-orientalische“, „sowjetische“ sowie „westliche“ – und untersuche ihre Bedeutung für aktuelle Raumproduktionsprozesse. Im zweiten Teil wende ich mich dem physischen Raum zu und arbeite zentrale Elemente der urbanen Topographie von Khujand heraus. Nach einer Analyse städtischer Mobilität präsentiere ich vier Fallstudien, welche einen Querschnitt von Khujands physischem Raum darstellen und eine breite Vielfalt urbaner Erfahrungen abdecken. Im dritten Teil zeige ich, wie die soziale Produktion des Raums durch einen Fokus auf Anpassungen des Raums erfasst werden kann. Ich analysiere Beispiele auf der Staats-, Nachbarschafts- und Haushalts-Ebene im Hinblick auf Lefebvres Konzept der Transduktion, also einer Praxis vor dem Hintergrund von Einschränkungen und Wünschen. In diesem Teil stelle ich die zentrale Rolle von remont und obodi heraus – zwei kulturell eingebetteten kreativen Konzepten, welche maßgeblich an der Produktion des sozialen Raums in Khujand mitwirken. / The dissertation builds upon Henri Lefebvre's theory of a social production of space in order to provide an anthropologically founded account, grasping the complexity of the urban phenomenon in the northern Tajik city of Khujand. The three parts of a social production of space – conceptions, perceptions, and adaptations of space – are not isolated from each other. In the process of their interaction, space is being produced. In this regard, the present work is the first monograph which explores the intertwined contemporary urban space in a regional city of Central Asia. After delving into theory and methodology, I address in a first part the production of mental space in Khujand. I present different ideologies of space and urbanity which were at work in Khujand: inter alia, the 'Islamic-Oriental', and the 'Soviet' and 'Western' ideologies of urbanity, and assess their relevance to Khujand today. In the second part, I work out the defining elements of Khujand's physical space. After an examination of urban mobility, I proceed to presenting four case studies which provide a cross-section of Khujand's physical space, covering a wide range of urban experiences. In the third part I show how the production of social space can be seen through the lens of adaptations. I analyse cases on the state, the neighbourhood and the household levels, with regard to Lefebvre's concept of transduction, that is, action taken within a framework of constraints and desire. In this part, I emphasise two crucial notions which permeate the social production of space in Khujand: remont and obodi, which stand out as culturally embedded creative concepts.

Originating from a disenfranchisement with the contemporary definition and realisation of Westernised architecture as a commodity and product, this thesis seeks to explore alternative examples of positive socio-spatial practice and agency. These alternative spatial practices and methodologies are drawn from participatory and grass-roots development agency in informal settlements and contexts of economic absence, most notably in the global South. This thesis explores whether such examples can be interpreted as practical realisations of key theoretical advocacies for positive social space that have emerged in the context of post-Second World-War capitalism. The principal methodological framework utilises two differing trajectories of spatial discourse. Firstly, Henri Lefebvre and Doreen Massey as formative protagonists of Western spatial critique, and secondly, John F. C. Turner and Nabeel Hamdi as key advocates of participatory development practice in informal settlements. These two research trajectories are notably separated by geographical, economic and political differentiations, as well as conventional disciplinary boundaries. However by undertaking a close textual reading of these discourses this thesis critically re-contextualises the socio-spatial methodologies of participatory development practice, observing multiple theoretical convergences and provocative commonalities. This research proposes that by critically comparing these previously unconnected disciplinary trajectories certain similarities, resonances and equivalences become apparent. These resonances reveal comparable critiques of choice, value, and identity which transcend the gap between such differing theoretical and practical engagements with space. Subsequently, these thematic resonances allow this research to critically engage with further appropriate surrounding discourses, including Marxist theory, orientalism, post- structural pluralism, development anthropology, post-colonial theory and subaltern theory. 5 In summary, this thesis explores aspects of Henri Lefebvre's and Doreen Massey's urban and spatial theory through a close textual reading of key texts from their respective discourses. This methodology provides a layered analysis of post-Marxist urban space, and an exploration of an explicit connection between Lefebvre and Massey in terms of the social production and multiplicity of space. Subsequently, this examination provides a theoretical framework from which to reinterpret and revalue the approaches to participatory development practice found in the writings and projects of John Turner and Nabeel Hamdi. The resulting comparative framework generates interconnected thematic trajectories of enquiry that facilitate the re-reading and critical reflection of Turner and Hamdi's development practices. Thus, selected Western spatial discourse acts as a critical lens through which to re-value the social, political and economical achievements of participatory development. Reciprocally, development practice methodologies are recognised as invaluable and provocative realisations of the socio-spatial qualities that Western spatial discourse has long advocated for, and yet have remained predominantly unrealised in the global North.

Dans un monde globalisé, les territoires de la périphérie du monde entrent dans un processus de changement continuel sous les contraintes de multiples acteurs, transnationaux, étatiques et locaux. Cette thèse s’est fixée comme objectif de révéler la spatialité de ces changements ainsi que les jeux d’acteurs qui y contribuent dans le cas de la Bolivie. Les hypothèses, qui postulent un irréversible processus d’autonomisation des territoires, ont résisté à l’épreuve des faits : les bouleversements politiques et sociaux intervenus pendant la période de la réalisation de ce projet. La thèse présente d’abord un positionnement épistémologique qui propose d’articuler l’espace et ses acteurs dans une perspective modélisatrice. Elle expose ensuite un cadre systémique de mise en cohérence des éléments de structuration et de changement territorial qui place, au centre, un système idéel construit à partir des signaux échangés par les acteurs afin de maîtriser ce changement territorial : signaux de domination, de pression ou de séduction engendrant des relations d’exploitation, de conflits ou de coopération. Ce système idéel est relié à des sous-systèmes matérialisés (organisation politico-administrative, système de villes et espaces de l’économie) qui subissent l’impact des changements étudiés. En effet, les politiques territoriales sont les rétroactions d’un tel système. Le traitement de chaque sous-système matérialisé correspond à un changement d’échelle géographique. Les modèles spatiaux à base de chronochorèmes complètent l’étude dynamique du changement. Ces choix méthodologiques permettent une lecture géographique des résultats suivants : - L'efficacité des mouvements sociaux réside moins dans la matrice sectorielle et professionnelle que dans leur assise territoriale .-L'État concentre ses réformes sur le sous-système matérialisé de l'organisation politico-administrative car il semble n'avoir prise ni sur le système des villes, ni sur les espaces et territoires de l'économie. Il n'est jamais parvenu jusqu'à présent à un accord qui lui aurait permis d'équilibrer dépenses sociales et investissements productifs. Un consensus social devra également être trouvé pour rendre viable un État plurinational. L'État concentre sur lui la majorité des signaux et établit ses politiques territoriales en fonction de leur pression. - La toute puissance technologique et financière des acteurs transnationaux se heurtent à l’efficacité des mouvements sociaux. Toutefois, ces acteurs restent à terme des pièces importantes d’un jeu où , pourvoyeurs d’activité et d’emplois, ils continueront à produire de l’espace et à consommer des territoires / In a globalized world, satellite territories undergo continual change process constrained by multiple, transnational, public and local actors. This thesis aims to reveal the spatiality of these changes as well as the sets of actors who contributed to it in Bolivia. The assumptions, which assume an irreversible process of empowering territories, have withstood the proof of facts : political and social upheavals occurred during the period of the realization of this project. The thesis starts with epistemological considerations which propose to articulate space and its actors in a modeling approach. Then the thesis presents a systemic conceptual framework providing coherence within territorial structuration and changes which focus on a system built from the signals exchanged by the actors to control this territorial change : signals of domination, pressure or seduction, generating relation of exploitation, adversarial or cooperation. This conceptual system is connected to effective subsystems (politico-administrative organization, system of cities and territories of the economy) which undergo the impact of the studied changes. Indeed, territorial policies are the results of the feedbacks of such a system. Dealing with each effective subsystem needs to focus on different geographical scales. The spatial models containing chronochorèmes supplement the dynamic study of the change. This methodological approach allows a geographical reading of the following results : - Social movements’ efficiency is better explained by its territorial origin than the sectoral and professional matrix. - The government focuses its reforms on the politico-administrative sub-system because it seems not to have stranglehold either on the system of cities, or on economics territories. Until now, it never managed to achieve an agreement which would have enabled to balance welfare expenditures and productive investments. A social consensus will have also to be found to make viable a multinational nation. The nation concentrates the majority of the signals and establishes its territorial policies according to their pressure. - The technological and financial all-power of the transnational actors face up to the effectiveness of social movements. However, these actors remain in the long term important providers of activity and employment and will continue to produce space and to consume territories