A SELECTIVE REVIEW OF URBAN NIGHT

Nakorn Paleethunyawong

Ph.D. Student of Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Architecture,

Chulalongkorn University and Lecturer of Faculty of Architecture, Rangsit University, Thailand.
E-mail: nakorn.rsu@gmail.com

Abstract
Most of the urban studies focus on the dimension of daytime. If considering space and time
of physical environment or daily activities which people do to the city or vice versa, it is found that
there are differences between the city during daytime and nighttime. This article aims to
investigate and understand the characteristics of the urban night through literature review by
establishing questions and structures on the basis of 3 major notions which are 1. What is the
meaning of urban night? 2. What is the methodology of urban night study? 3. How can the urban
night space be utilized? The answers obtained from these questions will be used as part of urban
night study which contributes to the wider and more detailed urban planning to ensure its
concordance with the current changing dynamics of the city.

Keywords: night-time space, night-time economy, urban nightlife, 24-hour city, urban space

Definition of the urban night

While the human settlement has been more and more limited, people tend to change from
space ( land) frontier expansion to time frontier expansion whereby the term frontier is newly
defined as the diffusion of settlement in terms of space and time. Such settlement is located
between the more crowded space and the empty space where people have performed various
activities (Melbin, 19 78 ). In terms of time, people seem to change their interaction pattern as the
social atmosphere at night seems more relaxing and compromising which is different from formal
social atmosphere at daytime (van Liempt, van Aalst, & Schwanen, 2015).

Urban night (night-time city) is usually referred to or mentioned in the same way as night-
time economy ( NTE) 1. However, the definition of urban night is not restricted only with such
interpretation. Instead, urban also includes criminology, geography, sociology, anthropology,
history, epidemiology and more. These issues contributes to the changing nature of cities at night,
as new sorts of spaces ( Shaw, 2014) , and sometimes urban night is labeled as playscapes2
( Chatterton & Hollands, 2002) . Most of the studies on such issues have focused on alcohol

1
NTE is a striking manifestation of the intricate and dynamic relationship between the social, cultural and
material economies of cities with an emphasis on leisure and lifestyle (Lovatt & O'Connor, 1995)

2
A Playscape can be defined in various ways. For example, a Playscape is a playful landscape characterized by
the occurrence of enjoyment by the public & all those that interact with it. However, for urban designers,
Playscape is also the term to express areas of cities that encourage interaction and enjoyment of all ages
(Building Trust International, 2013).

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consumption and leisure industry (“the night-time economy”) in the urban night. In addition, some of
the research has discussed the issue of how non-economic and non-alcohol based practices
intersect with more visible features of the urban night or understanding of the relationship
between young people ( or gender, sexuality, race, class) and city space ( Chatterton & Hollands,
2 0 0 2 ) . Urban planning tends to emphasize the future of globalization, the convergence of
technology, culture and urban development and demographic factors rather than the past when
“hard” physical spatial planning was the main focus (Johnson, 2002).

The nighttime in the global cities is always longer. One of the main reasons is the increasing
number of population moving to big cities. Many tourists or foreigners have continuously
immigrated, so businesses need to extend the service time. Some places are open 24 hours.
Transportation within big cities used to be expensive or take time as there was limited public
transportation service. Nowadays, it is easier and more convenient to commute at night-time as
there is more public transportation available. In London, for example, it is reported that half of the
commuters at night-time are those who head for or leave from work. The number of the labors
working night shift has been increasing and working longer (including the police) (The Economist,
2 0 1 4 ). Working in shifts or overtime leads to the change in the way of life and social patterns
(Johnson, 2002).

Longer extending late-night hours causes both positive and negative effects. Although the
growth in business has been seen in line with the extending late-night hours in the cities, certain
worries and controversies are also raised. These include the problems of noise and lights, traffic,
alcohol consumption which tends to lead to the increase in crime (Grönqvist & Niknami, 2 0 14 ) as
well as health problems of people who work at night-time (Sood, 2 0 1 2 ). Studies on the basis of
these concerns have been encouraged by World Health Organization, which suggests that the noise
level of urban night in Europe should not exceed 4 0 dB ( Decibels) ( World Health Organization
Regional Office for Europe, 2009) . This coincides with the a study conducted by The Institute of
Alcohol Studies in Great Britain stating that late-night economic activity of 2 4 -hour cities is largely
tied to alcohol consumption (Institute of Alcohol Studies, 2014).

Methodology of urban night studies

Urban night studies can be conducted qualitatively and quantitatively. In conducting a

quantitative study, appropriate constructs must be indicated for participants to identify how such
specific situation can be defined. The researcher must quantitatively re-analyze to differentiate the
levels as previously indicated which is called stated preference ( SP) 3. The stage of designing the
stated preference experiment has an advantage in terms of costs as the number of diverse
situations can be reduced to one or two situations. To conduct an SP experiment, online survey can

3
Stated Preference Approach is a measurement of satisfaction level by interview. It is the assessment of
environmental value by surveying people’s satisfaction or willingness on the basis of hypothetical scenario.
This method is flexible as it can be applied to almost all kinds of assessment depending on the types of
interview questions.

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be sued for collecting the data of overall night life. Then, multi-level analysis4 will be applied to
identify which variables are correlated (Brands, van Aalst, & Schwanen, 2015).

Rosemary D.F. Bromley and Amanda L. Nelson (2002) applied interviews as their method of
study. Police officers were interviewed to obtain the information about hotspot areas which had
been at risk of crime in Worcester City, England. The interviews had been conducted once every
fifteen days and thirty days. In addition, the passers-by were also randomly interviewed with the
record of dates and time the interviews were done. Quantitative analysis was also used to analyze
police recording systems to identify the trends or patterns of urban crime ( Bromley & Nelson,
2002). Robert Shaw (2014) used an assemblage urbanism approach5 to find affective atmosphere of
the urban night. In other words, he observed participants who were taxi drivers and street cleaners
in the city center at night, which contributed to “border marking” (Shaw, 2014).

In studying the effects or policies on urban night through phenomena or unique sub-areas
( e. g. studies of artistic cities, tourist cities, creative cities, etc. ( Crivello, 2011) ) , a case study
methodology is likely to be the most appropriate approach. However, the analysis tools should be
carefully selected to ensure appropriateness to the context of the cities as interpretation or
categorization in each city can be different. One of the important tools used to interpret the
information is satellite imagery in order to show or confirm human settlements by looking at
patterns of nightlights. The obtained results can lead to time series data which can be used to
predict development of such cities or neighborhoods (Small & Elvidge, 2013; Small, Pozzi, & Elvidge,
2005) . The application of night-time satellite sensor imagery data can also help estimate the
number of population and energy consumption of the urban night ( Amaral, Câmara, Monteiro,
Quintanilha, & Elvidge, 2005) . The data obtained from this method is more updated than that
collected using traditional methods (which was not collected on annually basis) as this method has
the more detailed data duration. Nevertheless, the data obtained from earth surface surveying and
aerial surveying can be analyzed together as triangulation (Sutton, 1997).

Utilization of urban night space

The basis of night cultures and night economies is film, sports and dance, television, and
theatre, which are driven by technology ( Bianchini, 1995) . This coincides with the Bangkok’ s
emergence of urban night during the years 1884-1945. The electricity had extensively been
available, and more foreigners had started their trade in the city. The way of life in Bangkok had
changed. Foreign cultures had been more welcome and absorbed such as eating out at night-time
or enjoying nightlife at pubs or bars after work (Virayudh Peesalee, 2014). To accommodate the
changing night-time activities, many businesses started modifying or renovating their old plants,
warehouses or shipyards for use as tourist places, restaurants or nightclubs. In addition to
utilization, this phenomenon also reflects the taste of people who desire new, exotic activities. The

4
multi-level analysis is a statistic technique used to analyze the relationship between one dependent variable
and multiple independent variables.

5
how objects, agents, affects and discourses are gathered together. While this gathering is not inherently
“geographical” (Shaw, 2014)
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steadily increasing number of after-dark activities is usually found in urban areas as a result of
original urban night culture which reflects pattern and feeling of the use of space (Melbin, 1978).
Also, utilization of urban night space relates to climate condition.

The issue of using public space at night has also been controversial. It leads to the issue of
public rights to cities which are restricted by closing cities entirely after a certain time ( through
curfews), by closing public places after a particular time (as with public parks), or by prohibiting
certain activities after a certain time (as in lockout laws) (Garrett, 2015). However, many countries
enforce the law or regulations on the basis of Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) to restrict the
rights of public space access. For urban night, there is not any research suggesting whether
prohibition of public space access at night increases or decreases the incidence of crime. Further, it
is still not clear how such policies affect the nearby areas which are being studied.

Conclusion

The literature review presented in this article can be used as a guideline for the researchers
who want to conduct a study on urban night whereby many related issues have not been
investigated. This is because urban night closely relates to social and economic issues as well as the
context of city. Clear directions or issues to be studied are, therefore, based upon sub-categories
underlying those major issues which cannot be concluded in this article. It is suggested that urban
planners and policy makers consider direct and indirect effects incurred to the cities. Creative and
wrecked must be clear-cut (Roberts, 2006). However, it is a good start as the study on space and
time of the cities has become a fundamental characteristic of which people are aware.
Nightography will become complete imagery of the cities when the studies and planning are
conducted with care.

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