This essay presents a profound critique of conventional urban planning frameworks, arguing that they are excessively grounded in linear notions of time (“Chronos”)—a historical-progressive model that reduces the unpredictability and multiplicity of urban life. Contrarily, the text advocates for an aionic conception of temporality, one that accommodates non‑linear rhythms, sedimented histories, and simultaneous heterochronies in the design and governance of metropolitan spaces. By reorienting planning toward an epistemology of time as layered duration, the author challenges the deterministic futures implied by technocratic urban strategies and even utopian visions. Reframing cities as temporal assemblages—shaped by affect, contingency, and historical resonance—enables planners to embrace emergent patterns and flexible layering over fixed, formalistic sprawl. This shift proposes a temporal re‑foundational urban theory where space is inseparable from lived time: rather than merely occupying territory, cities evolve through accumulations of social acts, rhythms of daily practice, and interwoven trajectories of memory.
León Casero, J. (2013) ‘Notas para una teoría de la metrópoli’, URBS. Revista de Estudios Urbanos y Ciencias Sociales, 3(2), pp. 39–52.
