image above: time layering up, Kyoto, 2024, Jan Eckert
“No-Minute City” is a project proposal that challenges conventional temporal frameworks in urban environments. By questioning time as a human construct while emphasising natural temporalities, it explores the fundamental relationships between urban spaces and their inhabitants. The project advocates a deeper understanding of presence and interconnectedness of built environments, natural systems, and the diverse community of human and non-human inhabitants.
The theoretical underpinning builds on the “space-place-identity” approach developed in my Masters thesis, which established a framework for understanding urban transformation. Using Gebhard et al.’s (2007) seven basic principles of existence (living, work, supply, mobility, education, recereation, lived community) as an analytical lens, the project examines how urban structures evolve and manifest over time, creating a dynamic model for understanding urban spaces as living entities shaped by multiple temporalities and agencies (see figure below).
Questioning existing principles
By critically examining and re-imagining these five dimensions, the project sets out to explore new principles of coexistence that transcend traditional urban planning paradigms (see table below). The temporary component of the “space-place-identity” approach serves as a catalyst for creating regenerative feedback loops within urban systems. This regenerative process aims to transform urban spaces into places of authentic presence and multi-species coexistence, fostering environments where human and non-human inhabitants can thrive in mutual relationship with their surroundings.
| live | shared habitat |
| work | cooperation |
| supply | ecosystems of sharing |
| education | lifewide learning |
| mobility | contemplation |
| recreation | re-generation |
| living in community | communities of co-existence |
Prototypes of the No-Minute City
The project will identify and analyse two categories of urban spaces: established sites that naturally embody no-minute principles (contemplative gardens, adaptively reused historic buildings, and community-managed spaces), and potential transformation sites that are primed for temporal redesign and regeneration. Through participatory workshops with local residents, planners and environmental experts, we will co-develop prototypes that challenge conventional urban temporalities. These living laboratories will document how alternative temporal frameworks reshape social interactions, ecosystem health and cultural preservation. The research will provide an integrative framework and toolkit for implementing no-minute principles in diverse urban contexts.
References
Eckert, J. (n.d.). Ort, Platz, Identität [Master Thesis]. Hochschule für Technik.
Gebhardt, H., Glaser, R., Radtke, U., Reuber, P., & Vött, A. (Eds.). (2020). Geographie: Physische Geographie und Humangeographie (3., [überarbeitete und erweiterte] Auflage). Springer.