rhythmanalysis
“Rhythm is always linked to such and such a place, to its place, be that the heart, the fluttering of the eyelids, the movement of a street or the tempo of a waltz.” (Lefebvre, 2004, p. 106)
“A rhythm is only slow or fast in relation to other rhythms with which it finds itself associated in a more or less vast unity.” (Lefebvre, 2004, p. 106)
cyclical vs. linear rhythms “The cyclical is generally of cosmic origin; it is not measured in the same way as the linear.” (Lefebvre, 2004, p. 107) “The linear, by contrast, defines itself through the consecution and reproduction of the same phenomenon, almost identical, if not identical, at roughly similar intervals; for example a series of hammer blows, a repetitive series into which are introduced harder and softer blows, and even silences, though at regular intervals. The metronome also provides an example of linear rhythm.” (Lefebvre, 2004, p. 107)
“These are governed by the cosmic rhythms of tides – lunar rhythms! With regard to Mediterranean towns, they lie alongside a sea with (almost) no tides; so the cyclical time of the sun takes on a predominant importance there. Lunar towns of the oceans? Solar towns of the Mediterranean? Why not?” (Lefebvre, 2004, p. 108)
Goes out to see everything in terms of rhythm, from solar and lunar rhythms, to rhythms of state and the private, rhythms of social relations;
“Our hypothesis is therefore that every social, which is to say, collective, rhythm is determined by the forms of alliances that human groups give themselves.” (Lefebvre, 2004, p. 111)
“In fact, rites have a double relation with rhythms, each ritualisation creates its own time and particular rhythm, that of gestures, solemn words, acts prescribed in a certain sequence; but also rites and ritualisations intervening in everyday time, punctuating it.” (Lefebvre, 2004, p. 111)
public spaces
“It seems to us that in them, urban, which is to say public, space becomes the site of a vast staging where all these relations with their rhythms show and unfurl themselves.” (Lefebvre, 2004, p. 113)
“Through a certain use of time the citizen resists the state. A struggle for appropriation is therefore unleashed, in which rhythms play a major role. Through them, civil, therefore social, time seeks to and succeeds in withdrawing itself from linear, unirhythmic, measuring/measured state time.” (Lefebvre, 2004, p. 113)
“A link between spaces, the stairway also ensures a link between times: between the time of architecture (the house, the enclosure) and urban time (the street, the open space, the square and the monuments).” (Lefebvre, 2004, p. 114)