Book review Free

Many towns and cities have witnessed the development of a ‘night-time economy’ characterised by large numbers of people carousing late at night in bars and clubs often located in the historic core of the city. Until recently, the night-time economy was seen as a way of bringing life and income into areas that had become derelict because the businesses that had previously occupied the area had either gone out of business or moved to more spacious premises elsewhere.

Sometimes the night-time economy merely developed under its own impetus. More recently, however, it has been a development option deliberately encouraged by national and local government as a method of regenerating areas that have either failed or are in need of redevelopment. Now, it is more often condemned as an approach that leads directly to a culture of nuisance and disorder (Figure 1). It is interesting, however, that the amount of pubs and drunkenness is not a peculiarly modern problem – the authors note that drunkenness and gin houses were the topic of outrage among decent society in London in the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries.

Through a series of case studies in the UK, mainland Europe and Australia, Roberts and Eldridge analyse the background to this phenomenon, the various policies that drove its development and what it means to residents, businesses and local economy. Importantly, they also suggest ways in which the process should be managed.

This is a book that should inform the thinking of everyone associated with planning, managing and regulating all aspects of the night-time city – from policymakers to planners and police to practitioners. Different chapters cover most aspects of the night-time city, addressing the issues of ‘party cities’, binge drinking, regulation and licensing of alcohol sales, and planning and managing the night-time city using examples from more than 20 cities across the globe. The only significant omission appears to be a discussion of the sex industry, although an analysis of that topic probably requires a book of its own.

Any book that covers a topic with such a wide spectrum of issues is likely to attract readers who will dip into the particular chapters that address their specific concerns and perhaps ignore the other sections. Readers who want to adopt this approach should be aware that this would be a mistake. The night-time economy needs to be viewed as a whole – one of the problems that the authors identify is that when a silo approach has been deployed it has failed. As the book's introduction makes clear, the night-time city is multi-faceted and practitioners need to collaborate to understand the complexity of the issues that arise.

While concentrating upon the most widely understood definition of the night-time city, this book makes it clear that it comprises far more than just clubs and pubs. For many people employed in shift work in a variety of service industries (e.g. call centres and retail), the night-time economy is their opportunity to shop for basic goods and meet friends. It isn't all about ‘party time’. The importance and social context of places to meet and socialise should not be lightly dismissed.

The sections that are likely to be of the most practical interest to municipal engineers are the later chapters. These provide a discussion of the ways in which licensing laws, planning policies, streetscape, street cleansing and community safety regimes interact to either make places a delight to the visitor, both during the day and at night, or a menacing place to be avoided at all times.

Numerous micro case studies drawn from the UK, Australia and Europe are used to show what has succeeded and failed. Conveniently, they are subdivided into policing, local authorities, transport providers and planning. Of particular interest is the discussion of partnership working such as the business improvement district (BID) approach, pioneered in the USA but now increasingly deployed elsewhere.

The book closes with a discussion about the future for the night-time city. It notes that key drivers for the development of city centre entertainment districts over recent decades have been economic changes that made older industrial and commercial premises redundant for modern use and changes in property values that opened up previously unavailable market opportunities. One consequence of these changes is that the night-time economy crept up on us before we had a chance to properly think through how it should be managed. Deep economic changes are currently affecting economies across all parts of the world. One consequence of this is that businesses in locations not previously seen as entertainment areas may go out of business and property values may change substantially. This book should be essential reading for a variety of professionals if we wish to avoid finding ourselves unprepared for similar developments in the future.