Spatial Representation and Production and Reproduction of the Mental Image: Lefebvre’s Trialectic Approach

Lefebvre's theory of space production has been very much considered. In particular, it is important to integrate it systematically into the categories of city and space as a comprehensive and comprehensible social theory. Lefebvre's theory of space production has been remarkable in recent years and has responded well to the many questions posed in the early 1970s. Lefebvre in his trialectic in the first step contributes to content against the form, and then to the material reality against the idea. The pure thought emerged from the material existence as well as the being lived or experienced, and the mere experience without the thought that it makes and expresses is not real and social. The core of the theory of space production identifies three moments of production: first, material production; second, knowledge production; and, thirdly, the production of meaning. Space is understood in an operational sense and as an interconnected network of relationships that are continuously produced and reproduced. The results of the study show that what constitutes the representation of space in the current study is abstract and reasonable and plans depend on it. Because politicians in their political decisions and urban planners inevitably need to study the representation of urban spaces in order to present urban plans and projects. Mental images, on the other hand, are the result of interactions between humans and the environment and include the individual's mental awareness of the environment. Therefore, the study of mental images is the starting point for any analysis in the field of human-environment interaction. It can be stated that in the formation of the mental image, first, the environment of the city is perceived and then conceived, and the third aspect of this is the production of meaning and symbol, and in this regard it can be said that the mental image is always produced and reproduced.