The process

These committees can implement solutions such as: • A charter on the proper use of streets. • Awareness, training, prevention, mediation and enforcement of actions. • Systems for measuring the level of noise. • Sound-proofing equipment. • Coordination of the reports sent by local residents • etc.

Example: a nightlife monitoring system is set up in Bordeaux. It reports on dysfunctional establishments. This technical meeting gathers State, city and metropolis services as well as mediation. Members exchange information and bring their expertise in order to design a shared response. Such responses are balanced and operational, ranging from mediation to summons. Such meetings allow for exchanging views and actions according to the problem at hand (noise nuisance, management of a public space, regulatory aspects).

In ZURICH, in order to involve other actors such as local residents, the city organises round tables in the different neighbourhoods, which are moderated by professionals. The needs expressed can thus be directly dealt with by the decision makers.

In TURIN, local residents have neighbourhood or area committees as well as a neighbourhood consultative committee that communicates the demands or reactions expressed in committees to the municipal officers in charge of managing the nightlife policy.

• Night Owl Committee

In order for night revellers to have a voice in the Night Council, the City of Paris established a ‘Night Owl Committee’ on 3 November 2016. The ‘night owls’ are customers of nightlife establishments such as bars, concert halls, night clubs, night-time exhibitions, sports and other public services that are open in the evening (gyms, swimming pools, libraries, leisure centres, etc.).

This Committee gathers 15 women and 15 men selected at random. It has three objectives: • To initiate and advocate projects with the Paris City Hall in order to improve Parisian nightlife. • To support the Paris City Hall’s actions in order to achieve greater impact. • To voice the concerns of nightlife users and give their opinion on nightlife public policies either through formal mechanisms or by convening the Night Council in order to broaden the scope and improve the efficiency of the said policies.

Members of the committee meet in plenary sessions every two or three months and work in teams on specific themes or projects. In practice, they tend to work on projects they initiate since the Paris action plan on nightlife was adopted before this committee was established.

In BORDEAUX, Bordeaux, la Nuit set up a fifth thematic committee titled ‘Nightlife Users’. Dialogue with local residents and their participation in the different bodies of Bordeaux la Nuit is a key priority. Their involvement will enrich debates, apart from the partners’ contributions.

This committee works on ‘nightlife users’, a term that implies that people can either be neighbours, or the beneficiaries of the nightlife offer, or actors in the cultural and social life, or a night-time worker, or a user of night-time transport. Without downplaying the problems felt by inhabitants who live near nightlife venues, they do not necessarily reflect the views of all inhabitants. This approach is based on an audit and the presentation of the work carried out to residents of Bordeaux (nightlife users, workers, citizen councillors, members of permanent neighbourhood committees). Workshops were then organised on issues such as night-time crime prevention, the use of the night, and security. This work has been interrupted because of the Covid crisis.

In MANNHEIM, the participation of the relevant actors is organised through thematic round tables, neighbourhood working groups and informal meetings. These three types of participation are considered equally important as regards the design of activities. Surveys on the needs of the nightlife scene are regularly carried out, including during the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the Night Mayor is in permanent contact with the stakeholders via different communication channels and can pick up on and deal with requests, needs or criticisms quickly and directly. The nightlife strategy is thus based on the principles that problems evolve and solutions must be adapted. It is not set in stone and remains flexible to problems which may arise.

Credit Ville de Bordeaux

TURIN is still in the process of drafting its global nightlife strategy. For now, the City intervenes according to concerns, conflicts or problems that may arise. For example, if there are complaints about nuisance in a specific neighbourhood, the Mayor of Turin issues a decree to solve the problem, ordering the closing at specific times of the relevant local businesses. In this case, the local police are in charge of enforcing the regulation.

Credit Study in Torino

Main square, City of Turin, nightview

THE PROCESS

Design of the action plan Diagnosis Strategy Elaboration Action Plan elaboration Set-up Evaluation

• The implementation of the process

Reality on the ground shows that any nightlife governance body/structure in a city must be set up with the involvement of the relevant political powers. It is important to identify the main actors and to specify the objectives, expectations and resources.

There are several examples of such initial step:

In PARIS, the process started with a series of bilateral meetings between: • the Deputy Mayor in charge of nightlife and the relevant sectoral deputies; • the nightlife policy programme manager and the night ‘correspondents’ in the relevant municipal directorates; • the elected official and/or the programme manager and external partners. Through these preliminary exchanges, the needs, resources, expectations, etc. were identified.

In BORDEAUX, there were also preliminary meetings to present the general context, recall the work already carried out on the issue of nightlife management, and confirm the project’s objectives, scope and method. The objective was also for the municipal staff to appropriate the issue of nightlife, to better understand the realities of nightlife and thus to focus the conversation on conflicts linked to festive nightlife.

In LIÈGE, the establishment of the Night Council was based on an existing project titled Un carré qui tourne rond (note from the translator: this is a reference to a project carried out in the Le Carré central district of the city). The partnership established in one specific neighbourhood was broadened in order to include other areas and other partners. Work could thus start on a basis that everybody knew and appreciated.

In the 7th district of BUDAPEST, a working group on the governance of nightlife was set up, gathering the various nightlife stakeholders: local elected officials, police, Local Surveillance Body, owners/managers of nightlife venues, representatives of local residents, experts in tourism and in urban planning. This working group was established in November 2019. Its objective was to co-produce rules on the governance of nightlife, which were approved through a vote in June 2020. This type of body is a prelude to the establishment of a Night Council or other type of permanent body dedicated to nightlife governance.

• The diagnosis

The diagnosis is an essential step in the implementation of a nightlife strategy. Knowing and understanding the local situation is key in order to know how to act. A successful diagnosis should shed light on the city’s situation from different angles: context, demography, economy, how citizens perceive things, risk and protection factors, resources, stakeholders, etc.

Establishing a nightlife diagnosis can consist of: • collecting the data held by the municipal departments and the partners, which requires a lot of dedication; • commissioning surveys in order to complete the set of data.

Night-time exploratory walks involving different stakeholders are a good way to arrive at a diagnosis that is shared at a micro-local level. These walks also contribute to creating a common culture.

In PARIS, a first series of surveys was commissioned on the occasion of the 2010 Summit on Nightlife (‘états généraux de la nuit’). This preliminary diagnosis was then complemented through bilateral meetings and exchanges in the thematic workshops. A survey was commissioned in 2015 on night-time polarities in Paris.

In BORDEAUX, a Transmedia Anthropological Diagnosis (TAD) was designed and carried out in 2017 by David Mourgues, an anthropologist and communications specialist. This support document can be used to assess the transverse approach, define the municipal vision about nightlife, and to continue the implementation of the Bordeaux, la Nuit project. The document summarizes the method, observations, reflections and analysis. Nine themes, including powerful and innovative recommendations, are included in the TAD. Some 50 partners and heads of networks were consulted. The document was presented in a select committee with the Mayor in attendance, and then to all the local elected officials, the general directors and the department directors. It was presented to the partners when the Night Council was established, in 2018. This document has been praised by the partners, both for its content and its form. It is available to the general public at the following web address: http://bordeauxlanuit.fr/index.html

NANTES chose to audit the local nightlife before establishing the Night Council. With the help of a design agency, the City of Nantes set up a dialogue body that was open to all interested residents of Nantes: associations working on the quality of life, economic players, citizens, employees, health and care associations, etc. This work enabled to map out local nightlife and to select the themes that the Night Council should tackle. It was also an occasion for the different stakeholders to get to know each other. The diagnosis was completed by surveys by the urban planning agency for Nantes and its surrounding area (AURAN according to the French acronym): a survey of night-time, a complementary diagnosis and a study on night-time mobility.

Credit Vanina Hallab

Observation on nightlife mobility with nightlife deputy Cyrille Jaber

Hangar à Bananes and Anneaux de Buren, nightview, City of Nantes

Credit Ville de Nantes