Making time matter: Intermittent urbanism and the politics of staying

Abstract

Contemporary urban life is increasingly shaped by unstable temporal arrangements arising from redevelopment, digital mediation, shifting labour regimes, and ecological pressures. This article proposes intermittence as an analytical lens to understand how these temporal dynamics organise the everyday urban experience. Rather than treating intermittence as a marker of precariousness or ephemerality, the article frames it as a rhythmic form of continuity, sustained by patterned cycles of appearance and withdrawal that operate alongside more stable urban structures. Drawing upon phenomenological, anthropological, and chronopolitical debates, this article develops a conceptual framework that distinguishes between temporality, temporariness, and intermittence, and introduces a typology of temporal regimes: structural–cyclical, programmed–intermittent, occasional–temporary, and contingent. The methodology combines ethnographic observation, temporal mapping, interviews, and photographic documentation, based on fieldwork conducted within the Intermittent City research project. Four Lisbon‐based cases exemplify how distinct temporal configurations shape urban practices and access to shared infrastructures: Fruta Feia (programmed–intermittent cooperative cycles), Renaturalizar Lisboa (structural–cyclical ecological care), Cinema no Estendal (occasional–temporary cultural activation), and Gira (contingent, platform‐mediated mobility). The analysis shows that intermittent practices can sustain social, ecological, and cultural infrastructures without relying on permanent spatial occupation, while also exposing temporal inequalities tied to digital systems, ecological rhythms, and public space governance. The article argues that recognising time as a shared, structured, and unevenly distributed urban resource is crucial to understanding how people negotiate presence, continuity, and the politics of staying in contemporary cities.