This essay analyzes the greenbelt controversy in South Korea, triggered during the
greenbelt revision process in 1999. Drawing on Lefebvre&rsquos theory of the production
of space, it examines how Korean greenbelts were produced both as abstract
and social spaces, and how they were appropriated by different groups involved
in the controversy. The case study shows that the contestations over greenbelts
were not only material but also symbolic and discursive processes where different
imaginations of, as well as interests in, land and nature competed. Deconstructing
the diverse discourses of greenbelts and highlighting their complexity, this essay
challenges the dichotomy implicit in new social movement theories, which tends to
assume defensiveness as the basic nature of progressive collective actions against
colonizing efforts by globally operating forces. Instead, it decouples defensiveness
and progressive politics, and suggests that local contexts shape diverse paths of
collective actions.
