Calling Time: Managing Activities in Space and Time in the Evening/Night-time Economy

Abstract

Recent years have seen the emergence of two policy objectives and associated development trends in UK city centres relating to urban vitality and to the urban renaissance policy agenda. These involve a shift towards more city centre residential development and, associated with the 24-Hour City agenda, a shift towards the development of evening/night-time economies (ENTEs). Mixed land uses are seen as an essential component of this vitality. But conflicts often arise from different land uses in close proximity, which, in turn, suggests a need for the sensitive management of urban areas in general and the ENTE in particular. Focusing on the management of activities in space and time in the ENTE of UK cities, this article explores how planning and liquor licensing controls, the two main sets of contextual controls for the ENTE, provide both the context for more active forms of management and policing and frame an opportunity space for behaviour and conduct. The article's overarching argument is that the management of the ETNE should be considered in terms of a fine-grained understanding of space and time.

Quieter, Safer, Cheaper: Planning for a more inclusive evening and night-time economy

“…These findings echo complaints made in an earlier study (Comedia, 1991), which found similar patterns of town centres dominated by drunken youths at night whilst being relatively abandoned by older people. This pattern of avoidance has both temporal and spatial dimensions, with the early part of the evening posing fewer problems than the period around midnight and the early hours of the morning (Tiesdell & Slater, 2006). In addition to age, gender is also a factor and Scraton and Watson (1998) found that some younger women stayed away from the 'bright lights of the postmodern city' as exemplified by Leeds city centre.…”

Informal management, interactive performance: street vendors and police in a Taipei night market

“…Temporary use of specific outdoor urban areas is permitted by the Singapore government, as evidenced by the unlicensed, ethnic vendor stands appearing at night (Yeo, Hee and Heng, 2012). In the 2000s, the 'urban renaissance' trend in the West encouraged vendors to re-enter public spaces (Tiesdell and Slater, 2006;Wasserman, 2007). Even in cities with extensive regulations, street vendors or migrant workers could negotiate municipal policies or planning regulations in order to occupy public spaces (Xue and Huang, 2008;Noussia and Lyons, 2009;Yeoh and Huang, 1998).…”

Assemblages of Urban Leisure Culture in Inner‐City Bucharest

“…Assemblages of leisure culture located in inner‐city areas have occasionally been addressed by urban scholars under the category of evening/night‐time economy (see Tiesdell and Slater, ; Shaw, ; Bøhling, ; van Liempt et al ., ), but these assemblages clearly involve more than mere economic relations. They often include creative practices, open‐ended social interaction, scene formation, emotionalized atmospheres, emergent focal places and material locations, political institution building, and more (Schwanen et al ., ).…”