ABSTRACT
The famous quote claiming that the people can understand only what they can measure triumphs in the 21st century and cities are no exception. Several indicators, comparisons and rankings of cities and quality urban life are the basis for the knowledge-based policy and can curb it to create marketing or political values. Strategic documents encompass several indicators and statistics, allowing people to compare levels of poverty, of innovation or, more generally, of progress and growth. As the city constantly changes and evolves, the growth in number is often understood as progress and development. Any decrease is perceived as a sign of failure, which can be misleading or difficult to reconcile with de-growth trends. From the evolutionary perspective, time is a crucial aspect. It is a necessary element of the analysis, contrary to the approaches based on static models and universal cause-effect relations. Path-dependence, learning process and implementation plans all require time.
