Night-time economy vitality index: Framework and evidence

Abstract

This study aims to develop a multi-dimensional night-time economy vitality index (NTEVI) to measure the vitality of night-time economic (NTE) activities in Zhejiang Province, China, covering its 11 cities and 90 counties. Comprising 44 supply and demand indicators of the NTE, the index was composed of an overall index and six major sub-indices that measured the vitality of six typical NTE subsectors, including catering, shopping, recreation, accommodation, touring, and fitness. The NTEVI was calculated using a unique multi-source dataset based on hourly online transaction data from a leading Chinese online-to-offline service platform, monthly night-time electricity consumption data, and official statistics from 2019 to 2020. Robustness and sensitivity analyses were conducted to ensure high credibility of the index results. The findings of this study suggested that the NTEVI was highly and significantly correlated with night light indices, economic indicators, and tourism demand measures. By identifying regional and temporal differences across several service sectors over time at the county, city, and provincial levels, the NTEVI serves as a powerful numerical and visual tool: it offers key information to guide policy formulation, resource allocation, and policy evaluation. In the context of COVID-19, the index analyses also reflect the NTE recovery process in Zhejiang Province. Our findings indicate that it is important for the Chinese government, regional authorities, and enterprises to encourage the NTE as a main driver of economic revitalization.

Measuring urban nighttime vitality and its relationship with urban spatial structure: A data-driven approach

“…Data attributes, including POI categories and business hours, can better reflect the interaction information and contribution intensity of nighttime vitality. Considering the daily habits of Chinese residents (especially the best sleeping time) and the frequently opening hours of shops, 6 p.m.-10 p.m. and 10 p.m.-6 a.m. were selected as the early and late nighttime periods, respectively (Beer 2011;Lin et al, 2021). Following previous studies, a hierarchical weighting method was proposed to measure nighttime vitality based on the POI categories and business hours (Figure 2).…”

How Has Climate Change Driven the Evolution of Rice Distribution in China?

“…Socio-economic factors. Taking complete account of the heterogeneous impact of differences in socio-economic endowment characteristics across counties on the distribution of rice, this paper uses the average distance of land for rice from roads and railways and the nighttime light index as control variables to offset the impact of differences in locational endowments on the distribution of rice [ 49 ].…”

“Nocturnal cities : past, present, and future”

“…After this brief but intense and dark period of pandemic politics (Dionne & Turkmen, 2020 ;Lynch et al, 2022 ;Ryan & Nanda, 2023 ;Sommer & Rappel-Kroyzer, 2022), the urban night is once again as vibrant as it was in the years prior to the pandemic. Every weekend tens of thousands of people go out to dine, meet friends or dance ; thousands more work at night in back-office and logistics centres, supply centres, essential services and health institutions (Dušková & Duijzing, 2022 ;Lin et al, 2022 ;Shaw, 2022) ; many use nighttime public transport, ride-sharing companies, or take their own vehicle to get across the city (Halás & Klapka, 2023 ;Plyushteva, 2021). Meanwhile, a number of informal workers (domestic workers, street food vendors, street dealers and sex workers) carry out their activities at night, some of them taking advantage of the liminal anonymity of darkness (Koren, 2022 ;Seal, 2022).…”