It has to be that way. A city is an artificial environment primarily made of people. The environment you must navigate is mostly the behavior of other humans.
You see it starkly in daylight savings time. Noon is noon, when the sun is directly overhead. No number can change that. If you live out in the natural world, this is reality to you, because this is reality. But you see people every so often clamoring for eternal daylight savings time. They want to live in a world where noon is 1:00pm, because noon means nothing to them, the number on the clock is what's important.