Tender for the night: After-dark cultural complexities in the night-time economy

Abstract

The concept of the night-time economy emerged in Britain in the early 1990s in the context of strategies to counter de-industrialization and inner-urban decline. Despite registering a shift towards more fluid, fragmented and diversified structures and rhythms of work, leisure and urban space, a framework that acknowledges cultural complexity has not, in practice, characterized night-time economy policy. After-dark cultural complexity has been obscured, instead, by a discursive concentration on those night-time economy leisure practices entangled with rapid, high-level consumption of alcohol, especially among young people. This reductionist discourse -oscillating between stimulating and controlling leisure cultures -has restricted policy development within a complex governance environment composed of many (in)formal organizations and levels of government. This article addresses the confusing, contradictory influence of a polarized night-time economy policy agenda and exposes the contrasting multilayered complexities of the diverse cultural practices of urban nightlife. By engaging with cultural complexity as integral to the city after dark, new conceptual trajectories are proposed that can point the way towards a more effective framework for understanding the lived experience of night-time culture.

Rhythms of the Night: Spatiotemporal Inequalities in the Nighttime Economy

“…A distinction is proposed between an evening economy premised on visits to restaurants, cafés, theatres, concerts, and cinemas by a relatively heterogeneous population in terms of age, class, and gender; a night economy in which predominantly youth, and more males than females, tend to frequent bars and clubs; and a late-night economy organised around nightclubs and in which alcoholfuelled crime and disorder are concentrated. Rowe and Bavinton (2011) suggest 2300 hrs and 0200 hrs as the approximate times of transition between the three periods.…”

“…The relative neglect of the temporal dimensions of inequality and exclusion is somewhat surprising in light of the distinction between the evening, night, and late-night economy that has been made (Bromley etal, 2003;Rowe and Bavinton, 2011). In this paper we employ the concept of rhythm to integrate the spatial and temporal dimensions of inequality and exclusion and to link these to other spatiotemporal dynamics, such as opening hours and the visible presence of surveillance and policing agents.…”

The ‘civilising’ effect of a ‘balanced’ night-time economy for ‘better people’: class and the cosmopolitan limit in the consumption and regulation of alcohol in Bournemouth

“…Rowe and Bavinton (2011) suggest that bringing together groups can lead to 'incivility and conflict' -and this was certainly Dean's fear regarding getting caught in an argument with a 'drunken chav' about his t-shirt', and George's explanation for why there was no 'aggro' in The Chalk and Cheese.…”

Changing landscapes of surveillance: emerging technologies and participatory surveillance in Dutch nightscapes

“…In this research, this will be done by performing 'action-research' (Baskerville, 1999;Stringer, 2007;Greenwood & Levin, 1998) In order to create a better understanding of different nightscapes, these spaces will be mapped and observed both in terms of physical make-up as well as the dynamics of visitors in these places. (Bromley et al, 2003;Rowe and Bavinton, 2011). These are an evening economy (premised on visits to restaurants, cafés, theaters, concerts, and cinemas by a relatively heterogeneous population in terms of age, class, and gender), a night economy (predominantly youth, and more males than females, tend to frequent bars and clubs) and a late-night economy (evolving around nightclubs in which alcohol-fueled crime and disorder are concentrated).…”

“…These are an evening economy (premised on visits to restaurants, cafés, theaters, concerts, and cinemas by a relatively heterogeneous population in terms of age, class, and gender), a night economy (predominantly youth, and more males than females, tend to frequent bars and clubs) and a late-night economy (evolving around nightclubs in which alcohol-fueled crime and disorder are concentrated). The hours of change, or transition, between these three phases have been suggested to be 2300 and 0200 (Rowe and Bavinton, 2011).…”