Beyond Urban Chronometry: A World of Time–Space Experiences: Deep, Shallow, and Unknown

Taking a critical stance versus the dominance of conventional timekeeping, especially in the urbanized parts of the world, this study touches upon the history and alternatives for chronometry as a frame for human experience of time and space. It begins by asserting the essential usefulness of standardized global time measurement, but also its limitation to productive and coordinative functions. It follows this by looking at the societal effects of such regimentation, considering that encapsulated in the same frame are very different experiences across nation-states, depending on level of cultural, economic, and sociopolitical development. Past varieties of timekeeping in different countries are then reviewed, leading to the conclusion that nature remains the final object and ground for basing the passage of time as people perceive it. The research concludes its reappraisal of anthropocentric time by showing how force majeure events like war and pandemic can reset the clocks that communities keep, and thereby compel one’s consciousness back to the present, which is the true sphere of lived reality. The study then closes with a reflection about the need to retain or build a more comprehensive, flexible attitude and panoramic vision about time.