Introduction: Geographies of the urban night

Abstract

Academic research tends to overlook what happens when night falls. This special issue aims to bring the space-time of the urban night to the fore by asking how nocturnal cities are produced, used, experienced and regulated in different geographical contexts. Despite local variations and specificities important similarities and ongoing transformations are identified regarding the long-term trends in the formation of the space-times of the urban night. We have structured this special issue on the basis of four important focal points of research for studying the night: (1) changing meanings and experiences of urban darkness and nights; (2) the evolution of the night-time economy; (3) the intensification of regulation; and (4) dynamics in practices of going out. By bringing different sets of literature and theoretical perspectives together this special issue provides a relational perspective on the urban night. The special place of the nightNight-time has been consistently neglected in the field of Urban Studies. A major part of academic work within Human Geography, Sociology and Planning suffers from nyctalopia: night blindness. Day is often the dominant discourse focusing on urban daily activities and geographies of everyday life. Academic research tends to overlook what happens when night falls. The current special issue aims to bring the space-time of the urban night to the fore by asking how nocturnal cities are produced, used, experienced

Light, connectivity and place: young people living in a post-industrial town

“…Thus, darkness may foster a sense of liberation; places which were sites of terror and suspicion for some were also places for other young people to gather and perform alternative identities. 40 That said, despite recent accounts celebrating the virtues of darkness, 41 the young people in Ironhill mostly framed it as a source of anxiety. Interviews and other engagements, including the activism campaign, captured how streetlights are as much about connectivity, belonging, and place as they are about safety, surveillance, and social control.…”

“…1 It also forces people to think through their body with regard to their surroundings, thus challenging understandings of their ontological security, bodily presence, and the boundaries these generate. Two journal special issues ('Introduction to geographies of darkness' in cultural geographies, 2015 2 ; 'Geographies of the urban night' in Urban Studies, 2015 3 ) and a handful of other accounts have explored the positives and potentialities of darkness, 4 how its slow disappearance from illuminated urban space is lamented, 5 how it causes fear in populations if combined with absent streetlights, 6 and how it offers occasions for deviancy, 'for trying to be someone the daytime may not let you be'. 7 A recent research programme on public lighting also shows how it plays a prominent role in reflecting and reproducing inequalities.…”

The night is young

“…In urban studies and human geography, researchers acknowledge that little attention has been given to understanding the dynamics surrounding youth experiences and urban nightlife [46]; this is certainly so in Ubicomp research [44,17,2]. Activities during daytime have often been the primary source of investigation to understand topics ranging from human mobility and experiences, to how spaces are used and regulated in urban areas [31,4,40,19].…”

“…There is a significant body of work at the intersection of youth, drinking, and urban spaces, where researchers have examined drinking places including pubs and bars [10], house parties [22] and public spaces [8]. From the perspective of young people, research has also studied various aspects of alcohol consumption, ranging from "pre-loading" (a phenomenon where youth consume alcohol before going out for the night), to health risks associated with excessive drinking [46]. In contrast with these works, our paper captures the heterogeneity and complexity of the going out behavior of youth during night time using mobile crowdsourcing, which to the best of our knowledge has not been studied in urban studies and human geography.…”

“…Among other conceptualizations, a vibrant nightlife scene can be simultaneously seen as an urban development strategy, an economic opportunity, a source of health and safety risks, and a way in which citizens co-create and appropriate the urban space [46]. Young people, including late teenagers and young adults, are key acPermission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page.…”