The urban dialectic: Between distant time and thick time

Abstract

In this commentary, I discuss the dialectic between Datta's concept of ‘distant time’ and Kentridge's visualization of ‘thick time’ to explore spatial and temporal relationships between colonial, postcolonial, and smart city urbanism in India. I am interested in extending the lines of Datta's contoured time in Shimla onto the plains of Chandigarh to see what are the different ways in which temporal distancing is maintained and challenged. The commentary elaborates on the concept metaphor of distant time by moving spatially from the lines of Shimla's contours to the Chandigarh grid. I also, introduce another temporal frame (postcolonial city) between the colonial city and the smart city to show how thick time prevails in urban crevices, simultaneously governed and ignored by distant time.