Abstract

In this essay, we describe how rhetoric’s theories of temporality can inform ongoing urban development. We examine a transportation planning case to suggest that urban development must value contributions from people, places, and ecologies with their own unique rhythms. We coin the term coeval rhetorical temporalities to describe the multiple and sometimes conflicting scales of time that nonhuman and human participants bring to transportation planning. To demonstrate our notion of coeval rhetorical temporalities and the consequences of disregarding them, we highlight how human notions of progress are being used to legitimize road development that is neither efficient, ethical, nor resilient.