Night-time Leisure Research Articles

Exploring the Nonlinear Interplay between Urban Morphology and Nighttime Thermal Environment

The nighttime thermal environment affects people's nighttime leisure activities and energy consumption. While increasing studies have examined the interplay between urban morphologies and daytime temperature, a gap exists in understanding the nonlinear relationship in the nighttime thermal environment. To address this, the study employs a data-driven ensemble model to downscale Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) thermal environment data for four seasons, aligning it with the scale of urban morphology. Furthermore, an additive interpretation algorithm investigates the impact of nonlinear factors shaping the urban thermal environment during nighttime. The findings reveal that in contrast to daytime temperatures, built environment variables exert a more pronounced effect on nighttime surface temperatures than natural variables. Specifically, plot ratio and building height are the greatest contributors to the warming observed across all seasons. On the other hand, increasing the sky view factor of streets proves to be an effective strategy for mitigating nighttime temperatures. Overall, our study sheds new light on the complex interplay between urbanization and the nighttime thermal environment, assisting planners in understanding how the built environment affects the urban temperature and sustainable development path.

“Vertical drinking” in the night-time economy: alcohol licencing and proxies for “uncivilised” drinking bodies

ABSTRACT ‘Vertical drinking’ is a longstanding concept in alcohol licencing decision-making and the literature on night-time leisure. As the term implies, it concerns drinking alcohol standing up. The proposition is simple: establishments where people stand to drink are associated with less desirable clientele, more drunkenness and a greater likelihood of crime and disorder. Existing research has explored how the concept of ‘Vertical drinking’ – known historically as ‘perpendicular drinking’ – can form part of heavily classed distinctions between ‘civilised’ and ‘uncivilised’ drinking practices. By examining 40 licencing hearings in England under the Licencing Act 2003, this paper demonstrates how vertical drinking serves as a: (i) proxy for ‘uncivilised’ drinking establishments, (ii) a proxy for problematic (working class) drinking bodies, and (iii) how the legal tool of the licence targets problematic drinkers by shaping the establishment in which they drink. Assumptions about problematic drinking bodies – this ‘vertical drinker’ – inform the regulatory distinction between ‘civilised’ and ‘uncivilised’ establishments.

Urban livelihoods beyond industrial ruins : the birth of an informal night-time economy in Norton, Zimbabwe

This paper focuses on Norton town, Zimbabwe, which was left in ruins after its industry succumbed to deindustrialisation as key industries closed. With rising unemployment and urban poverty, residents innovated and devised alternative livelihood strategies. This study explores several informal and innovative night-time economic activities : night vending, home-based industries, informal fishing, sand and quarry mining, transport, and the night-time leisure economy, among others that residents in Norton adopted. It unpacks the organisation of these activities and the logics behind going nocturnal. For their courage and ability to re-invent their livelihoods, we present the residents using the lens of Long’s Actor-oriented theory by framing them as social actors and agents of change working hard to find solutions to their challenges. Data was collected using ethnographic methods of interviews, night-time observations, and informal conversations. Our results show that Norton became a nocturnal hub of informal entrepreneurial innovation and creativity. This was a result of governance factors, due to daytime load-shedding (energy cuts), night-time leisure activities and as a way of working hard to survive in a difficult economic environment.

Prevalence and associated factors of binge drinking among high school students in Acapulco, Mexico: a cross-sectional study

Youth binge drinking is an important health problem with notable psychosocial consequences. This study estimated the prevalence of and identified factors associated with binge drinking among high school students in Acapulco, Mexico. A cross-sectional study included 5177 students from five high schools. After informed consent, participants received a supervised self-administered questionnaire that collated demographic, socioeconomic, and psycho-affective variables. Bivariate and cluster-adjusted multivariate analysis identified factors associated with binge drinking; the odds ratio adjusted by cluster (ORa) with the Mantel–Haenszel procedure and 99% confidence intervals (CIs) cluster-adjusted (99% CIcla). Period prevalence of binge drinking in the last year was 17.9% (925/5177). Nighttime leisure activities modified the key associations. Among youth with nighttime-leisure, risk factors included history of attempted suicide (ORa 1.82), employee and students (ORa 1.90); and both parents consumed alcohol (ORa 1.47). Risk factors among the group without nocturnal leisure included: age 17 years or more (ORa 1.75); lower grade average ≤8.5 (ORa 1.71); and having a partner (ORa 1.43). Understanding this constellation can help to strengthen local actions aimed at preventing binge drinking and reducing its impact.

“As queer refugees, we are out of category, we do not belong to one, or the other”: LGBTIQ+ refugees’ experiences in “ambivalent” queer spaces

ABSTRACT While over the last twenty years, geographers of sexuality have explored the racialization of queer spaces, the experiences of LGBTIQ+ refugees in those spaces are rather absent in these studies. At the same time, while in recent years there has been an increasing amount of research on LGBTIQ+ asylum in Europe and beyond, the social experiences of LGBTIQ+ claimants and refugees in their host countries, including queer spaces, have only recently started to be examined. Drawing on research carried out in Germany, Italy and the UK, this article explores LGBTIQ+ refugees’ experiences in different spaces such as LGBTIQ+ support groups and night-time leisure spaces, as well as intimate relationships. The article argues that these are “ambivalent” spaces for LGBTIQ+ asylum claimants and refugees and that to fully understand these spatial experiences, we need to look at the inter-dynamic relationship between gender, sexuality, (dis)ability, “race”, religion and “refugeeness”.

Does Fuel Pricing Affect Males and Females Differently? Evidence from Kerosene Using Households in Rural Bangladesh

Energy sector reform, particularly the pricing of fuel and its gender-differentiated impacts, is rarely studied in the literature on energy and gender. This empirical study examines whether energy pricing has differential consequences for men and women with regard to kerosene oil use in rural Bangladesh. Specifically, the variables under focus are the duration of the study, duration of night-time leisure and time spent on income-generating activities. A household survey with 630 kerosene using rural households has been conducted in eight districts of Bangladesh. Apart from OLS estimation, we also use IV to address the endogeneity embedded in the model. The study finds that higher kerosene prices have a gender-differentiated effect on study duration, night-time leisure duration and time spent on income-generating activities in the context of household use of lighting fuel. Females are more adversely affected by higher kerosene prices in terms of study duration and night-time leisure hours. The effort to offset these losses by increasing effort on income-generating activities is less successful for women than men.

Night-time leisure: Gender and sexuality intersected by generation, style, and race in the São Paulo pop LGBTQ+ scene

ABSTRACT Considering that sexuality and gender are both relevant to the study of occupations and the practice of occupational therapy, this paper aims to investigate the importance of night-time leisure for the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, many other terms) group in identity shaping. An ethnographic study of five nightclubs, which were frequented by young LGBTQ+ pop scene in São Paulo, Brazil, was undertaken. Data were analyzed qualitatively through intersectionality and post-humanist Queer Theory. Findings show that night-time leisure can enact support for LGBTQ+ people; however, several forms of discrimination of this group remain, due to class, style, race, and generation markers. These operators of difference may reveal how occupations are shaped by identity, just like identity is shaped by occupation. Additionally, the findings support that ‘doing gender’ is related to technologies of gender. The article contributes to theoretical and methodological advances in studies on leisure and sexuality from an occupational perspective.

Understanding the spatiotemporal patterns of nighttime urban vibrancy in central Shanghai inferred from mobile phone data

In recent years, major cities around the world such as New York in UAS, Melbourne in Australia, and Shanghai in China, have planned to boost their nighttime urban vibrancy levels to spur the economy and achieve cultural diversity. The study of nighttime urban vibrancy from the perspective of spatiotemporal characteristics is increasingly being recognized as part of the essential work in the field of urban planning and geography. This research used mobile phone signaling records to measure urban vibrancy in central Shanghai and revealed its spatiotemporal patterns during nighttime. Specifically, this research explored the changes of urban vibrancy within a day, studied the distribution of urban vibrancy during the nighttime, and visually presented the spatiotemporal changes of nighttime urban vibrancy in central Shanghai. Moreover, on the basis of the behavior pattern of each mobile user, we classified nighttime urban vibrancy into three different types: nighttime working vibrancy, nighttime leisure vibrancy, and nighttime floating vibrancy. We then tried to determine how land use affected nighttime leisure vibrancy. The results showed that urban vibrancy in central Shanghai exhibits a periodic pattern over one-day period. A high-level nighttime urban vibrancy belt is present within central Shanghai. Business offices, hotels, entertainment and recreational districts, wholesale markets, and express services contribute most to the vibrancy at nighttime. In addition, the correlation analysis shows that public and commercial facilities generate high levels of nighttime leisure vibrancy than residential facilities. The mixed land use of public and commercial facilities and residential facilities within 500 ​m is more critical than the mixed use of a single land lot. The research can be a basis for supporting land use planning and providing evidence for policy-making to improve the level of nighttime urban vibrancy in cities.

The effect of backside elements on the light emission of a plastic optical fiber assembly

With the recent increase in leisure time and wellbeing trends, the number of individuals who enjoy nighttime leisure activities has rapidly increased. Thus, the demand for luminous night safety clothing ensuring safety and that is also fashionable is increasing. Although higher visibility is important, studies on the influence of the backside elements of optical fiber materials on light emission are limited. The main components of the plastic optical fiber assembly in this study are the plastic optical fiber and backside elements, consisting of retroreflective material, and the backside sheet. The effects of the four types of retroreflective material, which are low, medium, high, and ultra-high luminance types, and the color of the backside sheet, white or black, on the luminance of the plastic optical fiber assembly are evaluated in bright, dusky, and dark environments. The results are analyzed using the statistical analysis software, SPSS 20.0. In the dusky environment, the plastic optical fiber assembly with prism material (80.78 ± 2.17) exhibits the highest luminance. However, there was no difference between the plastic optical fiber assembly with high- (38.52 ± 1.27) and medium-retroreflective material (36.76 ± 0.68). In the dark environment, the plastic optical fiber assembly with the prism material shows the highest luminance (66.83 ± 0.24), and there is no difference between the plastic optical fiber assembly with the low- (24.43 ± 0.42), medium- (24.63 ± 0.36), and high-retroreflective material (25.12 ± 0.42). Also, the luminance of the plastic optical fiber assembly with the white backside sheet is higher than that with the black backside sheet for all retroreflective material in dusky and dark environments. In summary, the optimal constitution of a plastic optical fiber assembly’s backside element is the retroreflective material of a prism type with the white backside color.

Exploring nightlife in the university city of Cluj-Napoca (Romania): a mixed methods research study

The university city of Cluj-Napoca in Romania is one of the clearest examples where ‘the night’ (including restaurants, bars, discotheques, clubs, and also museums, exhibitions, and theatres) has been essential for the vitality of the city. Despite the importance of ‘the night’ for the everyday life of the city, the role of the night-time leisure economy in the social and urban change of European post-socialist cities remains underexplored. Based on mixed research methods, this paper aims to examine the recent development of the night-time leisure economy of Cluj-Napoca. After a theoretical approach in which we highlight the long underexplored path that still exists in relation to the study on the political, social, cultural and economic factors of ’the night’ in post-socialist cities from South-Eastern Europe, the paper shows a quantitative approach about a range of variables that define the different (and unequal) forms of consuming the night in the city centre of Cluj-Napoca. The second part of the paper shows the results derived from the quantitative study about the different perceptions and visions that employees, residents, venue owners, and municipals have about nightlife in Cluj-Napoca. The paper concludes by suggesting that a greater institutional attention should be provided to the development of the night-time leisure economy in the city centre of Cluj-Napoca in order to avoid the reproduction of 'segmented nightscapes' that highly feature the night in Central and Western Europe.

The touristification of nightlife: some theoretical notes

ABSTRACT Agrowing number of authors have recently suggested a clear interaction between tourist gentrification and commercial gentrification. However, little scholarly attention has been paid to the growing interrelation between the nighttime leisure economy and urban tourism, along with all its complex forms of simultaneous interaction as fundamental driving forces of the current processes transforming the social, economic and cultural fabric of the central areas of many European cities. This short paper will argue that much more academic attention should be paid to how the touristification of nightlife is emerging as one of the most aggressive forms of material, symbolic and heritage dispossession of local communities within the central historic neighborhoods of many European cities.

Alcohol Consumption and Night-Time Leisure among Brazilian University Students

Recreational drug use is recognized by the World Health Organization as the consumption of alcoholic beverages, carried out by a portion of youth during leisure contexts. This research aimed at knowing the types of recreational drug use of a population of young Brazilian university students. This is an exploratory and quantitative research, developed through an anonymous and semi-structured questionnaire. The sample consisted of 217 university students, aged 18 to 24 from a public university in the city of Vitoria- Brazil. The results showed that the recreational uses of substances occur mostly during leisure time. Such scenarios represent, for these young people, the possibility of rupture with daily life and the adult universe, characterized by the imposition of rules. For a young group, night-time leisure represents an important context of sociability and alcohol consumption. Among those surveyed, 63.6% consumed alcoholic beverages at night outings and 45.1% almost every weekend. Regarding the pattern of use, 49% consume binge drinking, especially when drinking in informal spaces such as streets and squares due to the lower regulatory control. The results corroborate that alcohol consumption is related to leisure agendas and address issues such as autonomous expression of identities and lifestyles in contemporary society.

The Creative Night‐Time Leisure Economy of Informal Drinking Venues

AbstractIn response to debates on emergent and rogue forms of urbanism that are reshaping the African city, this article examines the night‐time leisure economy as one particular social context in which the tensions and opposition between regulation/deregulation and informality play out. This article shows how ideas that centre on Northern entertainment spaces and drinking venues (bound with policy initiatives to reposition the city) have come to inform policy initiatives to regulate working‐class public spaces in South African cities with the objective of controlling unruliness. Through a case study of informal and illegal drinking venues in Sweet Home Farm, a slum settlement in Cape Town, we provide an insight into the ways in which people seek to reclaim social space and impose their own vision of the creative city. The article demonstrates that while illegal drinking venues can be imagined as ‘unruly, unpredictable, surprising [and] confounding’, they are characterized by a responsive agility to the social, cultural and physical environment. We argue that the capacity and tenacity of informal drinking venues to adapt to regulatory pressures present a range of possibilities for reimaging the night‐time leisure economy in ways that are inclusive of the poor and conducive to negotiation.

Urban vibes in a rural setting: a study of the bush doof scene in Byron Shire

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to consider the politico-cultural significance of the Australian ‘bush-doof’ for contemporary youth. The bush-doof is a localised form of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) party held in a bushland setting. It is argued that the bush doof provides a space for young people to reject forms of commoditised and over-regulated night-time leisure associated with (semi)urban environments. Associated with this is an expression of a shared ecological consciousness that finds its primary form of articulation in the rural setting of the bush doof event. In framing the experience of young doof party goers, Maffesoli’s concept of neo-tribe is used as a means of situating doof parties as opportunities for temporal bonding and sociality. Although neo-tribe has previously been used in studies of EDM, such work has often focused on urban settings. In this article, however, we argue that neo-tribal theory can also be effective as a means of understanding the experience of EDM in regional and rural settings. More specifically, we demonstrate how in its rural manifestation of the doof party, EDM also functions as an important marker of identity and fosters young people’s need for belonging and communitas.

Urban Nighttime Leisure Space Mapping with Nighttime Light Images and POI Data

Urban nighttime leisure spaces (UNLSs), important urban sites of nighttime economic activity, have created enormous economic and social benefits. Both the physical features (e.g., location, shape, and area) and the social functions (e.g., commercial streets, office buildings, and entertainment venues) of UNLSs are important in UNLS mapping. However, most studies rely solely on census data or nighttime light (NTL) images to map the physical features of UNLSs, which limits UNLS mapping, and few studies perform UNLS mapping from a social function perspective. Point-of-interest (POI) data, which can reflect social activity functions, are needed. As a result, a novel methodological UNLS mapping framework, that integrates NTL images and POI data is required. Consequently, we first extracted high-NTL intensity and high-POI density areas from composite data as areas with high nightlife activity levels. Then, the POI data were analyzed to identify the social functions of leisure spaces revealing that nighttime leisure activities are not abundant in Beijing overall, the total UNLS area in Beijing is 31.08 km2, which accounts for only 0.2% of the total area of Beijing. In addition, the nightlife activities in the central urban area are more abundant than those in the suburbs. The main urban area has the largest UNLS area. Compared with the nightlife landmarks in Beijing established by the government, our results provide more details on the spatial pattern of nighttime leisure activities throughout the city. Our study aims to provide new insights into how multisource data can be leveraged for UNLS mapping to enable researchers to broaden their study scope. This investigation can also help government departments better understand the local nightlife situation to rationally formulate planning and adjustment measures.

Assessing the safety of urban society from the effect of night-time leisure on improving the urban park design process using the MIST evaluation method

ارزیابی احساس امنیت جامعه شهری از تاثیر فراغت شبانه در بهبود فرآیند طراحی پارک های شهری با استفاده از روش ارزیابی MIST

Liminal governance in the Lisbon night

The expansion and commodification of nightlife in the central areas of Lisbon over recent years have involved some critical and unwanted social, spatial, and urban governance impacts, as well as the worsening of community livability during nighttime hours. Taking the former harbor neighborhood of Cais do Sodré in Lisbon as a case study, this paper examines the range of nightlife-related regulations, standards and laws approved over the past few years and implemented at local and national level regarding nighttime leisure. The paper will argue that public-led interplay between the privatization and liminality of public safety in nightlife districts and the (neo)liberalization of the opening hours regulation are at the basis of the liminal governance of nightlife in Lisbon.

Liminality of women’s leisure in Mumbai, India

This paper theorizes the transformative potential of women’s night-time leisure in Mumbai’s urban areas. To this end, I draw on instances from qualitative field-based research focused on Mumbai’s call centers and surrounding areas of informal urban activity. For women working night shifts in this sector, leisure activities occur with the help of informal vendors who run food stalls on streets around call centers. These times and space of leisure, I argue, disrupt capitalist and caste-based patriarchal systems. I analyze such leisure as a “limen” (cf. Lugones, 2003 ), a form of liminality that disrupts systems of production and reproduction that constitute the everyday (cf. Lefebvre, 1991 ). I elaborate on the temporal attributes of the limen to show how it goes against the grain of “efficiency” that otherwise shapes women’s routines. The fluid spatial nature of women’s night-time leisure helps rework dichotomous understandings of the public and private realm, demonstrating possibilities for intimate interactions within the public domain. The limen and intimate interactions therein often occur between food vendors and women working night shifts, revealing an intersubjective dynamic that ephemerally disrupts societal hierarchies. As such, the limen reworks and challenges existing structures, and in doing so, holds significance for envisioning a politics of change.

Decoding middle-class protest against low-cost nocturnal tourism in Madrid

ABSTRACTNightlife scenes in central Madrid have been profoundly affected due to the expansion of tourist-oriented night-time leisure activities during the last three decades. This paper examines a range of tensions that have recently appeared in the La Latina neighbourhood due to the conflictual coexistence between the slow and locally-oriented everyday practices remaining in this territoir and the rapid colonisation of this central quarter of Madrid by neoliberal economies of the ‘Tourist City’. Particularly, we focus on some long-term, middle-class residents who reproduce exclusionary narratives against the rapid expansion of low cost tourist-oriented nightlife, while advocating a civilised and distinctive tourism. We argue this may be seen as a renaissance of a sanitised ‘middle-class culture’ created by the fascist regime in the second half of the twentieth century. Recent middle-class’ protests in Spain’s largest cities hide a new struggle about ‘who is legitimised’ and ‘who not’ to reclaim the re-appropriation of the city centre.

Commuting and the urban night: nocturnal mobilities in tourism and hospitality work

ABSTRACTThe importance of the tourism and hospitality sectors to the urban night and the economies of cities has been well-documented. However, commercialised night-time leisure as a timespace of work remains relatively underexplored. A greater understanding of bars, hotels, restaurants and clubs as workplaces as well as leisure destinations can contribute to conceptualising the potential of urban nights to be more diverse and inclusive. This paper examines the challenges faced by tourism and hospitality workers who need to commute at night. Drawing on a mixed-method study of Sofia, Bulgaria, and Brussels, Belgium, the paper explores the barriers encountered and resources mobilised to make the nocturnal commute possible. The dimensions discussed include the need to continuously adjust one’s commute; the economic and non-economic costs of night commuting; cycling at night; and the impact of collegial and employer relations on negotiating the night commute. The paper demonstrates that while tourism and hospitality workers mobilise a range of economic, organisational, affective and physical resources in order to make night commutes possible, much remains to be done by urban authorities and transport planners to ensure inclusive nocturnal mobilities which attend to work as well as leisure journeys.