Session Q
2020: Pace of Life and Urban Rhythms. What Prospects for Urban Time Policies?
Facilitators: Guillaume DREVON (EPFL, Lausanne) & Emmanuel MUNCH (LVMT)
Territories are at present confronted with major changes, most obviously on a morphological level but also on a temporal one (Gwiazdzinski & Drevon, 2014). These changes are brought out by the transformation of rhythms and rituals (Lefèbvre, 1992). This transformation has brought about new temporal arrangements that are in tension with one another as they try to negotiate the various spheres of daily life (Munch, 2019). On the one hand, some populations are dealing with growing professional demands (Drevon, 2019) and are subject to various forms of acceleration (Rosa, 2010). On the other hand, some groups are seeking a slower pace of life (Heike & Knox, 2006) in the hope of enjoying a better quality of life (Kaufmann & Ravalet, 2019). Even though urban time policy initiatives have emerged since the early 1990s (Bonfiglioli, 1997; Mallet, 2013; Munch, 2014), public policies need to adapt to cope with the variety of individual and collective rhythms (Drevon et al., 2019), as well as with new forms of injustice and temporal vulnerabilities that are emerging due to the fact that time is becoming an increasingly scarce resource in Western societies (Szollos, 2009; Crozet, 2019).
This session proposes to re-examine urban time policies at several levels. First, we would like to discuss instruments and tools that allow us to monitor various rhythms and types of social time. In addition, we wish to explore during this session the potential means of action available to produce a better management and regulation of urban rhythms. In this perspective, the session proposes to open the discussion to several fields of public policy: mobility, work, family policies, public services, gender equality, housing and social integration. Submissions may be theoretical, methodological and empirical and may refer to various social science disciplines. The session is also open to professionals and practitioners.
Indicative bibliographical references
Bonfiglioli S., 1997, “Urban Time Policies in Italy: An Overview of Time-Oriented Research”, Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 3(4), p. 700-722.
Crozet Y., 2019, « Économie des rythmes urbains », EspacesTemps.net, Travaux [doi:10.26151/espacestemps.net-9a82-fr23].
Drevon G., 2019, Proposition pour une rythmologie de la mobilité et des sociétés contemporaines. Espaces, mobilités et sociétés, Neuchâtel, Alphil–Presses universitaires suisses.
Drevon G., Gumy A., Kaufmann V., 2019, « Pour une approche rythmique des modes de vie et de la mobilité », Espaces et sociétés.
Gwiazdzinski L., 2014, “The Malleable, Adaptable Metropoles: Towards a Temporary and Temporal Urbanism”, STREAM, Inhabiting The Anthropocène, n° 3, p. 51-63.
Gwiazdzinski L., Drevon G., 2014, « Des méthodes et des outils au service d’une nouvelle intelligence des mobilités. Avant-propos », Netcom. Réseaux, communication et territoires, n° 28-1/2, p. 5-12.
Heike M., Knox P., 2006, “Slow Cities: Sustainable Places in a Fast World”, Journal of Urban Affairs, 28(4), p. 321-334.
Kaufmann V., Ravalet E., 2019, L’urbanisme par les modes de vie, Genève, Metiss Press.
Lefèbvre H., 1992, Éléments de rythmanalyse : introduction à la connaissance des rythmes, Syllepse.
Mallet S., 2013, « Aménager les rythmes : politiques temporelles et urbanisme », Espacestemps.net.
Munch E., 2014. « L’harmonisation des horaires de travail : en finir avec l’heure de pointe ? », Métropolitiques.
Munch E., 2019, « Pour une écologie temporelle de l’heure de pointe : enquête sur les choix d’horaires de travail en Île-de-France », Espace Populations Sociétés, 2019-1.
Rosa H., 2010, Accélération : une critique sociale du temps, Paris, La Découverte.
Szollos A., 2009, “Toward a Psychology of Chronic Time Pressure: Conceptual and Methodological Review”, Time & Society, 18(2‑3), p. 332-350.
