Meeting afterhours: on the work that night commissions do

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite the sizeable impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on nightlife, the night-time economy (NTE) is still high on the cards in cities. Whilst much attention has focused on leadership figures of the NTE like "night mayors", there is a vast landscape of institutionalized forms of night-time governance requiring greater recognition. Consultative night-time governance systems offer particular opportunities for advancing research and practice. We develop a typology of these systems discussing comparatively the role that night “councils”, “commissions”, “boards” and “panels” play in eighteen case studies. We deploy our typology to unpack the form and function of these systems, and the urban governance challenges the NTE encountered during COVID-19. We call for more empirical work on urban governance afterhours to better attend to the ways NTE conversations are convened in cities, and highlight the role these systems play in giving voice to those who take part in the NTE.