Best Practices and Resources
Dallas was designed for the day. It was not planned for the night.
Even if we don’t plan to fully operate as a 24‑hour city, there are strategies we can implement to take advantage of what the nighttime has to offer … and to support those who work at night.
Here are resources and best practices from around the world. They can inform our creation of a safe, vibrant, and inclusive nighttime economy in Dallas.
Why? The night is an important economic driver of tourism, leisure, and business growth within our towns and cities. It consists of a wide range of activity in town and city centers between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., including arts and cultural events, clubs, restaurants, retail, cinemas, theatres or concerts, meeting friends, or attending community events in public spaces.
The nighttime economy also encompasses the nighttime workforce that does not have access to same services daytime workers enjoy.
Nighttime Economy
The seventh and final chapter of the Global Nighttime Recovery Plan is a go-to resource for anybody who wants to understand cities at night. It is a handbook of data methods and concepts for governments, communities, nightlife advocacy groups, and trade organizations – anybody looking to create safe, creative, and prosperous cities and scenes after dark.
A report commissioned by the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) measure the pandemic’s effect on the UK’s night time cultural economy. Approximately 86,000 jobs were lost in the sector since the 2019 high. The report also shows, for the first time, the value of the UK’s nighttime cultural economy, which was 1.6% of GDP – or £36.4 billion – in 2019.
VibeLab Co-Founder Mirik Milan, VibeLab Asia Pacific Director Jane Slingo, and Urban Planner Dayle Bennett have co-authored the paper The Lockdown Effect to catalyze thinking and action in three areas: Education and Talent Development; Real Estate and Repurposing Space; and Localized Night-time Economy.
This report sets out an initial set of solutions to many issues and lays solid foundations for further work on others. This report also aims to find practical ways to help get Ireland’s nighttime economy sector moving again, post-COVID, and will inform a large part of a longer-term discussion.
This 2021 report is a summary of the Office of Nightlife’s activities as well as recommendations for new programs and initiatives to be implemented in the coming years. These ongoing and proposed initiatives are the result of stakeholder engagement; constituent services casework with nightlife businesses, workers, and neighbors; focus groups to solicit detailed feedback regarding the issues and challenges facing New York nightlife; in-depth research of national and global best practices; and extensive partnership with other government agencies.
Washington, DC is no longer a one-business, government town with a 9-5 schedule. It is a city of innovators, creatives, and change-makers – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, as this 2020 report reveals.
Before the pandemic, more than 420,000 people worked in the nighttime economy in Greater Manchester (UK). In 2020, Night Time Economy Adviser Sacha Lord presented a blueprint of recommendations and priorities detailing how that city can recover stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Whilst there are clear benefits of a thriving, well-managed night-time economy, licensed premises can create challenges for local communities. These can include crime and anti-social behaviour and alcohol-related hospital admissions all of which put additional pressure on police and emergency services.”
Key priorities outlined in the blueprint include enhanced safety measures for customers, artists and employees, the pilot development of night-time transport links, and later opening hours across cultural organizations, cafes, shops, and restaurants, among others.
In partnership with the Responsible Hospitality Institute, Jon Stover & Associates evaluated existing best practices in nighttime economy research. They developed a data-driven process and recommendations they believe are efficient and useful.
Not surprisingly, nightlife is a major economic, as well as cultural driver for New York City. In 2018, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment presented a study of the city’s nighttime economy.
The evidence in this report challenges some of the myths and perceptions around London at night. It also shows the huge opportunity the city has in order to make London work better for Londoners around the clock.
This guide was designed for new businesses and development within New South Wales’ nighttime economy sector. It offers help to entrepreneurs – from choosing a property to seeking the necessary approvals.
This superb 2017 guide is from Sound Diplomacy and Andreina Seijas J. The guide is written for those who are interested in developing vibrant nighttime economies in their communities.
In November 2017, over 120 participants came together for Sydney’s inaugural Global Cities After Dark Forum. The forum bought together Government policy makers, police, urban planners, drug and alcohol experts, city councilors, music promoters and creatives to discuss and share ideas on nighttime culture.
Over the last fifty years, the nation’s top live-work-play cities have proven themselves more than just vibrant urban environments for the elite. They are attracting a cross-section of the population from across the U.S. and are preferred destinations for immigrants of all income strata. This is creating a virtuous circle wherein economic growth enhances property values, stronger real estate markets sustain more reliable tax bases, and solid municipal revenues pay for better services that further attract businesses and talented individuals.
The analysis shows businesses across London and across industries working through the night and bringing jobs and prosperity to the city and country.
Action plans to support Sydney’s economic strengths such as the finance, tourism, and retail sectors; and grow new, emerging sectors such as the night-time economy and green economy sectors.
Safety
There is an ongoing internal problem within music, entertainment and leisure industries
that needs addressing with its own dose of respect and recognition – the treatment of women.
In this report from the UK, Night Time Industries Association‘s Savenightlife and Lady Of The House present findings from their Women’s Inclusion and Safety Survey. “Let us educate women to empower themselves to expect only acceptable behaviour and realise that being vulnerable is not the same as being weak.”
Human trafficking is the crime of using force, fraud, or coercion to compel someone to work or to engage in commercial sex. Often, nighttime economy businesses unwittingly serve as stops on the human and sex trafficking highway. In some instances, bar, clubs, hotels, restaurant, or other food industry sectors are complicit in this pervasive form of exploitation. The 2020 Federal Human Trafficking Report from the Human Trafficking Institute provides a snapshot of accomplishments in this arena … and the challenges we face.
Nightlife areas across the country are a challenge for law enforcement, communities, and business owners. Policing models that are not conducive to solving long-term issues are a drain on resources, fatigue officers, reduce trust in a police department, and are not sustainable over time.
The Boston Police Department and Partners in Licensed Premises Safety created this 2019 document to assist licensees (owners and managers of licensed premises) in maintaining safe bars, taverns, restaurant-lounges, and clubs.
This handbook outlines how a community safety partnership was organized to reduce crime and disorder and increase the safety of everybody in Lincolnshire (UK).
From the Ask for Angela program in the UK, here is an example of a flyer than can be posted for bar employees.
This 2000 paper summarizes the results of 30 police-manager interviews and a nationwide survey used to identify entertainment district features and dynamics that create demands for police resources and effective policing strategies and tactics.
Respect and Inclusion
From Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation in Dallas, this is a chart that describes the six phases of going from and organization where racial and cultural differences are seen as deficits, through tolerance, to an organization where racial and cultural differences are viewed as assets.
Sociologist Reuben May undertakes a nuanced examination of urban nightlife, drawing on ethnographic data gathered in a Deep South college town to explore the question of how nighttime revelers negotiate urban public spaces as they go about meeting, socializing, and entertaining themselves.
Cultural Innovation
Voices of Creatives is created from research conducted with stakeholders from the Music, Fashion, and Design sectors in the six focus countries. The research lasted from January to April 2021 and involved 23 team members in 12 countries, on 4 continents. The project team researched 7 cities: Beirut, Amman, Sulaymaniyah, Nairobi, Dakar, Cape Town, and Johannesburg, conducting 604 surveys and 42 hours of focus group interviews with 133 participants.
Sound Diplomacy provides a set of tools, case studies, and lessons to increase the value of music in your city, town, or place.
Collated from nearly 500 active music venues, clubs, theaters, and creative spaces that regularly program musical events in the central districts of New York City, this document reflects their hopes, fears, and plans for the future of their city’s music scene.
Drawing upon economics, politics, sociology and technology, this paper uses official government data, and data taken from business sources, to give a sense of the likely future growth of informal events.
Sydney, as Australia’s international gateway, needs to play a central role in both encouraging innovation as it develops across our city, and in supporting new products, services, and business improvements as they are taken globally.
The cultural and creative industries are major drivers of the economies of developed as well as developing countries. Indeed, they are among the most rapidly growing sectors worldwide. It influences income generation, job creation and export earnings. It can forge a better future for many countries around the globe.
Nighttime Placemaking
Prepared for the Deep Ellum Foundation and City of Dallas, this simple report outlines five different sound mitigation models (used, or considered, in more than ten locations). These were gathered from our research and from our international nighttime advocate cohorts.
The aim of this cleanscene.club report is to better understand the mechanisms by which Europe’s dance club scene fails the environment. It also wants to encourage a collective response to correct those systems, making them work in a less environmentally damaging, more equitable way.
World Resources Institute’s 2019 guide provides municipal technicians and city planners with a practical approach and guidelines on how to design good quality sidewalks.
The American Public Transportation Association commissioned this 2019 study to better understand the needs of late-shift commuters and the ways public transit providers and decision-makers can improve commuting options for this growing segment of the U.S. workforce.
There are 761 regionally significant, walkable urban places—hereafter referred to as WalkUPs—in the 30 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. These WalkUPs occupy a minute portion of the total land mass of the top 30 U.S. metropolitan areas (less than one percent) but deliver outsized economic performance.
Arup Lighting: “We must rethink urban lighting beyond just a functional add-on for safety or beautification and recognize it as an opportunity and fundamental solution to improve the quality of life for urban citizens.”
Quality of Life
In June 2021, Boston Consulting Group released a study based on a survey of 45 international cities. These “Cities of Choice” were ranked on: Quality of Life, Economic Opportunities, Social Capital, Interactions with Authorities, and Speed of Change.
The Global Nighttime Recovery Plan is a collaborative practical guide that aims to provide all members of the nighttime ecosystem the knowledge and tools to aid their cities in planning for safe, intentional, and equitable re-opening.
“In times of ever-increasing population density in cities, today’s problems will become even more pressing for policymakers tomorrow. Clearly, our proposals and the international experience described in this report will not solve every problem of New Zealand’s nightlife. We believe, however, that they are the first steps towards a more balanced way to deal with the nightlife.”
The arts and culture in our city, the energy of the streets at nighttime, inspiration from food, experiences, live events, sport, the opportunities to get outdoors and interact with nature; these add technicolor to our lives and are the essential building blocks of creating a great place to live.
A 30-minute city will require new modes of cooperation and thinking. It takes collaboration of public sector, private sector, and individuals. If we get it right the opportunity is enormous.
Author Jonathan Crary presents what he believes to be the ruinous consequences of the expanding non-stop processes of twenty-first-century capitalism. “The marketplace now operates through every hour of the clock, pushing us into constant activity and eroding forms of community and political expression, damaging the fabric of everyday life.”
Vision Documents
Free The Night is a non-profit organization that is committed to creating a safe, progressive, and culturally rich environment for nightlife in Northern Ireland. In June 2021, the group debuted with this vision document.
This report is the result of the Vienna Club Commission’s research on various models for nighttime club advocacy groups. 24HourDallas was included in the research … although our focus is different.
Sound Diplomacy developed a unique 4-pronged methodological approach to deliver a comprehensive assessment of Cardiff’s music ecosystem.
Sound Diplomacy a développé une approche méthodologique unique à quatre volets afin de réaliser une évaluation exhaustive de l’écosystème musical de Lausanne.
Nightlife contributes to the social bond and to cultural life, which is why it must be preserved. It must indeed be able to take place with respect for all, without excess and thus it will contribute positively to the dynamism of the city.