Designing continuity: Architecture and urban planning in the governance of urban transformation

The contribution explores the relationship between time, memory, and urban transformation in contemporary heritage discourse. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from urban studies and heritage research, the city is interpreted as a temporal construct in which spatial and cultural layers accumulate through historical processes. Starting from the reflection on the irredeemability of time proposed by T. S. Eliot, the study examines how architecture and urban form materialize the coexistence of past, present, and future within the lived environment of cities. Attention is given to the concept of collective memory in urban theory, especially through the work of Aldo Rossi, and to the role of planning in mediating between continuity and change. The Historic Urban Landscape approach provides a conceptual framework for understanding heritage as a dynamic component of urban development. The paper argues that heritage should be interpreted not as a static legacy but as an active resource capable of guiding more resilient and culturally grounded urban futures.