From Conflict Management to Quality of Life at Night. The First Approach of Lyon Urban Area Nights

Abstract

For more than a decade, the urban night’s issue has gradually found its place on the agenda of French and European cities. After nights were recognized as a subject of scientific research it attracted the authorities’ interest, in the prospect of enhancing their attractiveness globally. However, despite this growing interest, urban nights are still considered as a time to regulate, conflicts being the core of the topic. Implicitly, reflecting on nights to include them in the general reflection on the development of cities appears truly difficult. To get over this conflict and consider nights from a new perspective, we propose to change attitudes and consider nights through quality of life. The latter aims to link the characteristics of the living environment with the needs and desires of the inhabitants. Therefore, we propose to place people at the heart of the research, questioning them about what structures their lives at night. Through this method, we expect to build an essential knowledge to consider nights as designed by and in favor of quality of life.