Urban rhythms: A chronotopic approach to urban timespace

This text attempts to examine the structuring of the urban environment, taking into account the geographically traditional spatial aspects of various phenomena as well as their temporal characteristics. Places are anchored in time and time in turn may be said to unfold in space. It is thus impossible to achieve an understanding of space without the necessary temporal dimension; indeed, the debate over the conceptualization of timespace has gained considerable currency in the social sciences. This text forms a response to this point of interest, providing a discussion of the chronotopic approach. The first part examines the concept of time and timespace, respectively, in the social sciences; particular attention is paid to the non-trivial aspects of the relationship between time and space. The abovementioned chronotope analytical and interpretive model is utilized throughout. For the purposes of this article, the model is defined as a specific part of the urban space defined by a unique temporality, i.e. based on a specific combination of overlapping rhythms. Such an approach opens up the possibility of regionalization on the basis of a specific temporality on different spatial scales. The empirical part of the text attempts to characterize the differentiation of urban space in Brno on the basis of a spectral analysis of three selected rhythms – the work cycle of a given locale, average duration of shopping session and public transport frequency. Model cases of selected urban chronotopes are subsequently developed on the basis of the rhythmicity of these activities.