Our Creative Footprint study of Montreal is live!

What is Creative Footprint?

Creative Footprint (CFP) is a data-driven research project by us, the nighttime consultancy agency VibeLab, that studies creative spaces and communities to examine the cultural value and impact of music and nightlife in the city.

In order to conduct the Creative Footprint Montreal study, the project was powered by the civic organisation MTL 24/24 and we at VibeLab partner with PennPraxis.

The report offers a comprehensive overview of the city’s nightlife, based on focus groups, interviews, and more than 14,600 unique data points.

Montreal’s creative scene has received international recognition, and the Creative Footprint ranking puts it on par with other cities like Stockholm and Tokyo, with an overall score of 6.57. The score is based on three criteria: space, community and content, and framework conditions, with Montreal scoring high in the first two categories.

The report highlights Montreal’s multifunctional venues, which allow for experimentation and diversity of programming, and the concentration of 271 venues in a few central boroughs with high population density, transit density, and percentage of young adults.

The report’s recommendations for action fall into three categories:

• Protect and preserve existing venues
• Build trust between nightlife, public safety, and municipal decision-makers
• Grow by expanding time and space for nightlife

The report suggests that Montreal can establish itself as a global leader in sustainable, inclusive nightlife ecosystems by incorporating urban planning and zoning mechanisms that promote the production of music events and new nightlife spaces.

Overall, the report provides valuable insights into Montreal’s music and nightlife scene, highlighting the city’s strengths and areas for improvement. By considering the report’s recommendations, Montreal can continue to build upon its strengths while addressing its challenges and ensuring that it remains a vibrant and inclusive city for residents and visitors alike.

Discover more about Montreal’s Creative Footprint here

Read Executive Summary in French
Read Executive Summary in English

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The Nashville Independent Venues Study (NIVS) has begun its official listening sessions with independent music venue owners and Nashville’s “Night Mayor” in February 2023. The project is led by PennPraxis in collaboration with VibeLab and Culture Shift Team and is under Metro Nashville’s Planning Department. The aim of the study is to conduct quantitative and qualitative research about Nashville’s independent music venues, land use policies, economic geography, music history, and culture to develop potential policies and ideas for action to be presented in early 2024.

The kick-off meetings with key influencers in the Nashville music and nightlife scenes gave the project team a deeper understanding of independent music venues’ role in Nashville’s ecosystem. Through conducting independent venue site visits, the project team gained greater insight into the unique challenges these venues face amidst growing pressures from the city’s rapid growth and expansion, neighbourhood change, rising costs, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Nashville music industry has been raising concerns over the closures of long-established independent venues, with community music staples like Exit/In and Mercy Lounge recently shutting down. Independent venue closures not only change the landscape of Nashville but also deprive independent artists of opportunities to perform and grow in their careers, disproportionately impacting small business owners, marginalized communities, and communities of color. Local residents continue to voice the importance of protecting the art, history, and culture that keeps Nashville known as the world’s “Music City”, placing concern and attention on independent venues. Understanding the challenges that risk closures for independent venues will help the Nashville Independent Venues Study identify specific steps that can be taken to protect independent venues in the long term as part of Nashville’s cultural infrastructure.

In May and June of 2023, the Nashville Independent Venues Study will conduct small-group discussions, focus groups, and interviews with members of Nashville’s music and cultural industries, event programmers, real estate developers, musicians, journalists, and other stakeholders. The project arose from a resolution (RS2021-927) adopted by the Nashville Metro Council in May 2021, which was then developed into a request for proposals issued by Nashville Metro (RFQ 269260: Study – Sustaining Nashville’s Independent Music Venues).

PennPraxis is the applied research, professional practice, and community engagement arm of the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design. VibeLab is a purpose-driven consultancy supporting cities worldwide in the nighttime, nightlife, and cultural industries. Culture Shift Team, based in Nashville, is a multicultural marketing advertising and DEIAB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access, and Belonging) implementation, education, and consulting agency.

For more information about the Nashville Independent Venues Study and to join the mailing list to stay informed, visit here.

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Two recent papers by Timo Koren, PhD and researcher and lecturer at Erasmus University, contribute valuable insights to nighttime research on how music genres shape social and spatial dynamics and inequalities of nightclubs. This research expands on established nighttime research topics of identity formation and regulation, viewing nightlife through the lens of cultural production. Using case studies of niche EDM and eclectic clubs in Amsterdam in 2019, it examines the ways in which the cultural production and economic organisation of club nights at genre-specific venues impact the gendered meanings and racial inscriptions of genres.

Here, the cultural production of the genre is the process of programming and organising club nights in niche EDM (styles outside mainstream EDM)  and eclectic (mix of genres including r&b, pop, hip hop and dancehall) venues. Cultural production produces social and cultural meaning, and economic conditions can lead to inequalities in labour and public participation. Genre is understood not only as a descriptive label, but also as a set of orientations, expectations, and conventions coming together to produce a certain kind of music. Within genres, norms, standards and geographies are not fixed and can change based on social, cultural and economic interactions. 

What causes gender inequalities in the cultural sector? Does this differ along genre lines? How is meaning assigned to gender in different genres? Existing research shows that gender inequalities in nightlife employment are a consequence of informal work cultures’ privileging of male labor, including closed social networks and sexist perceptions and stereotypes within the production of the genre.

This study uncovers new and localised debates. Genre cultures are influenced by public critique and political discourses on gender equality and exclusion, manifesting here in observed discussions on gender parity in line-ups and employment in niche EDM spaces. Efforts for gender parity and diversity are encouraged by these influences and celebrated in some nightlife spaces. Despite progress, club owners, promoters, DJs and other positions of influence remain majority male-occupied. Data reveals the prevalence of social and cultural constructions of genre ‘quality’, innate gendered music taste and genre ‘safety’. 

Niche EDM is subjectively perceived as a better quality genre than eclectic genres, due to DJ prestige and other factors. Niche EDM is associated with masculinity and some eclectic genres, like pop music, are seen as feminine. Some venues curate ‘female-friendly’ club nights on the assumption that masculine genre nights will lead to violence. This ignores real safety needs such as awareness and anti-harassment training. Sometimes genre, gender and place are connected – for example, ‘masculine’ Berlin techno. When genres travel, gendered standards and assumptions follow. This culminates in static, limited and less critical understandings of femininity and masculinity within genre communities.

How are genre identities and racial identities connected? How does cultural production marginalise genres and minority communities? How do genres become associated with race and how does that racialisation change over time and space? Existing research shows that processes of exclusion based on race, ethnicity and class originate partly from door policies and other access barriers. However, there are more stories to tell. This research looks at the ‘whitening’ process of historically POC genres and cultural narratives, the impacts of economic organisation in racialised genres and the experiences of POC promoters and nightlife patrons in majority white nightlife landscapes. 

Genres have cultural histories bound to place and community, but the connection between genre and social group is not fixed and can be lost and/or reassigned when genres travel. House, techno, r&b and hip hop originate from POC communities in American cities. As these genres became popular in the Netherlands, they were absorbed into the majority of music cultures and ‘whitened’. Association with POC genre histories was lost when no connection was made with minority communities in the Netherlands. The ‘colourblind genre’ myth also detaches the genre from any racial association and does not acknowledge local contemporary POC genre scenes.

In Amsterdam, while efforts are made to recognise genre histories and integrate local communities, POC and other marginalised promoters face discriminatory barriers. Whiteness is still the ‘invisible norm’ in cultural production, and discriminatory standards can also be adopted from other majority-white scenes. The economic organisation of nightlife in Amsterdam necessitates that club nights are profitable, and many spaces subscribe to a uniform identity. Collectives and parties without permanent venue homes, often with mainly non-white and marginalised audiences, do not fit this model and are excluded from cultural production. Problematic attitudes tying POC audiences to unsafety and increased violence still exist. 

This research uncovers the importance of programming and promotion in shaping social and spatial conditions in nightlife spaces and nighttime economies. It centres cultural production on combating discrimination and exclusion in nightlife. While dialogues and concrete steps are being taken, prohibitive stereotypes and other problematic standards remain. Promoters and programmers have the duty to address racial, gender and other barriers and bias in their spaces. This can be accomplished by 1) examining how nightclub production, economic organisation and other norms and standards contribute negatively and 2) engaging directly and inclusively with genre communities. After all, clubbers play a critical role by invoking genre social principles and ideals.

Read the publications from Timo Koren:

Koren, T. (2023) ‘ “They were told it was too Black”: The (re)production of whiteness in Amsterdam-based nightclubs’, Geoforum, [link]

Koren, T. (2022) ‘The work that genre does: How music genre mediates gender inequalities in the informal work cultures of Amsterdam’s nightclubs’, Poetics, [link]

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In March, we launched a short questionnaire on how the pandemic has affected different cities and some of the latest work agendas where our support could be most helpful. We may now share the results based on more than 50 replies that we received from over 40 cities**.

Global Nighttime Recovery Plan

During the initial stages of the pandemic, Chapter 5 – Nighttime Governance in Times of Covid-19 and its respective conference call were the most attractive of the series, slightly surpassing Chapter 1 – Managing Open Air Nightlife and Chapter 2 – The Future of Dancefloors.

These three chapters attracted the biggest share of respondents to the related online events  (around 80% each).

More than two-thirds affirmed to have been inspired by the compiled ideas or examples for their own work, which the majority used as references (written or oral) in city administration or academia.

Since time was often mentioned as the major obstacle to participation:

• If you still did not have the opportunity to read executive summaries per chapter and would like a shorter summary comprising all main points (i.e. visual format other than text, like an infographic), please let us know.

Recovery of nightlife activity in cities

Overall, the majority of respondents felt optimistic: about two-thirds replied that the level of nightlife activity in their city is back at 70% or more compared to pre-Covid (2019 = 100%). However, the remaining one-third felt less positive, with those thinking “it’s really bad” surpassing the ones that think it’s “better than ever” (see graph below).

Considering work agenda priorities, most respondents were setting up “grants and funding programs” as well as “nighttime safety”, followed by “awareness” (such as diversity and inclusion) and “changing laws and regulations”. Almost one-third of respondents were setting up a nighttime office or night mayor position. Despite the general increasing interest in wellbeing and mental health since Covid-19, “health and prevention” was surprisingly among the least voted priorities.

Helpful tools and upcoming priorities

To conclude, three instruments were identified as being the most helpful in nighttime recovery among roughly 60% of respondents:

• Collecting best practices from around the world; 
• Providing data on the economy, venues, and events;
• Leading awareness campaigns about night-time economy needs and challenges.

Moreover, the last open question identified the following emerging priorities in nighttime recovery efforts:

• Changes in demand due to long-term effects of Work From Home (physical/digital space, mobility, work-leisure hours)
• Global obstacles to recovery (scarce labor and supplies as a consequence of pandemic, inflation cannibalizing available budgets)
• International cooperation as a key solution
• Continuous support for advocacy work

We would like to thank all the participants once again for their valuable input. Stay tuned for VibeLab’s upcoming initiatives addressing many of the challenges mentioned above.

**Demographic

While more than half of the respondents were from Europe (with the UK, and London particularly, in the lead), about a quarter were from the US. Therefore, the majority of the respondents were from English-speaking countries.

In terms of professional occupation, more than half identified as Advocates (which included night mayors, club commissions, and activists), followed by Community (including artists and promoters). Both City (such as government) and Science (academia, scholars) appeared next, sharing the third place.

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Who owns the night? Cross-sector collaborators unite to address this fundamental question in Stockholm

“It is of great value to build a strong foundation for entrepreneurs and business opportunities together with Stockholm nightlife, property owners and the City Administration.” – 

 Mayor Anna König Jerlmyr talks about Creative Footprint in Stockholm

What is Creative Footprint Stockholm?

Creative Footprint (CFP) is a research project by nighttime consultancy agency VibeLab that researches creative spaces and communities to study the cultural value and impact of music and nightlife in the city. It has previously been conducted in Berlin (2017), New York (2018), and Tokyo (2019).

Creative Footprint Stockholm was conducted in 2021 on behalf of Stockholm’s Stad (the City of Stockholm), Fastighetsägarna Stockholm, and Atrium Ljungberg to address the current state of the Swedish capital’s nightlife. As Stockholms Stad prepares to implement its first nightlife strategy, this report aims to empower both the city’s administration and the wider range of actors and stakeholders operating in Stockholm’s music and nightlife scenes.

What the report contains

This report documents the findings of qualitative and quantitative research conducted in the summer and autumn of 2021. Creative Footprint’s signature analysis methodology is based on over 5,000 data points relating to Stockholm’s approximately 102 music and nightlife venues and the input of 50+ stakeholders gathered in 3 focus groups and 11 in-depth interviews.

Like other CFP reports, these results are calculated in an overall “city score,” provided alongside further analysis of the economic and spatial patterns of Stockholm’s creative spaces. In comparison to other CFP cities, Stockholm’s overall score is similar to Tokyo’s and lower than both New York and Berlin. And in all four cities, similar patterns have been observed: venue density correlates positively with factors such as density of transit, the density of young adults in a particular area, and rental costs, while areas with high rental costs tend to display lower levels of artistic experimentation.

Scores and analysis are divided into three focal areas of Space, Framework Conditions, and Community and Content. Stockholm’s higher Space score is balanced by comparatively lower scores for Community and Content and Framework Conditions, suggesting both assets and challenges in the city. Research participants celebrated the city’s energy and diversity, and the potential for a vibrant and sustainable nightlife scene. But clear barriers to a vibrant nightlife were also identified, including high operating costs, a restrictive licensing and permitting climate, systemic forms of social exclusion, and an imbalanced “venue ladder” that limits opportunities for early-career artists, promoters, and would-be venue operators.

This report also includes a set of recommendations focused on two areas: relationship and capacity building between nightlife stakeholders, and a pilot program approach for innovative nightlife spaces and policies in Stockholm. These recommendations are based upon both detailed analysis and good practice from the other nightlife cities profiled here. These strategic steps can both strengthen the city’s nightlife and its broader agenda toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in support of a future Stockholm model of economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable nightlife.

Who has the right to Stockholm’s nightlife: High operating costs and stringent licensing and permitting for Stockholm’s nightlife spaces are stifling creativity, its progression and development for existing and would-be nightlife operators.

It comes as no surprise that Stockholm’s high cost of living burdens existing and would-be nightlife operators from running and starting new music and nightlife spaces and/or events. Prohibitive operating costs (including but not limited to rent, permits, and mandated staffing such as Ordningsvakter) are a cross-cutting theme: it impacts what spaces can exist in Stockholm, the types of content they program and the communities or audiences they reach out to.

High costs of operation have major implications:

• It discourages young would-be venue operators from starting venues
• It limits current venue operators’ diversity of programming and audience
• Event-goers of varied financial situations don’t see the nightlife in the central parts of Stockholm  as “for them”
• At its extreme, only large chains or restaurant groups can afford to operate, leading to a continued “routinisation”, homogenisation and gentrification of nightlife and culture.

In addition to the high operating costs, Stockholm Municipality’s (and broader national-level) stringent and disparate licensing and permitting arrangements further complicate, and burden existing and would-be nightlife operators from running nightlife spaces, events and/or opening up new nightlife spaces in the city. The negative impacts of stringent licensing and permitting regulations were one of the greatest concerns raised by promoters, organisers, and others in the Creative Footprint study. The cumulative impact of restrictions—the required full kitchen for alcohol permits, stringent alcohol licensing, limited operating hours, Ordningsvakter [door security staff] and Danstillståndet [dancefloor permit]—were described as a significant cost and operations burden. 

Taking a step back, it is important to underscore that these combined factors raise the fundamental question: who has the right to Stockholm’s nightlife? Should Stockholm’s nightlife scenes only privilege those who can and those who have the social and economic means to operate nightlife spaces in the city? Going forward, post-COVID-19, Stockholm has the opportunity to remedy the amplified social and economic barriers identified in Creative Footprint’s study that currently prevent those who are unable to break through into the city’s nightlife scenes—especially grassroots operators.

Read more here

Download the report here

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UCL Urban Laboratory has published Urban Pamphleteer #9, on the re-imagination of night-time cities by migrant communities through the emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The advance of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the imposition of unprecedented emergency measures: night-time curfews, the closure of after-dark venues, and laws designed to prevent nocturnal activities and control the movement of populations.

Across Europe, the pandemic has coincided with multiple political crises, amounting to the greatest set of restrictions on public life since the mid-twentieth century.

Emergency measures have interrupted the growth of policy initiatives supporting night-time urban cultures in many European cities. The issue engages perspectives from nightlife cultural organisers and associations, artists, industry representatives, policymakers, scholars and others who share their experiences and ideas on the future of night spaces.

Urban Pamphleteer is a publication series produced in collaboration between UCL Urban Laboratory and Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. Each issue addresses a theme and set of questions that have recently surfaced in urban debate, framing contemporary challenges historically, and bringing together a diversity of text and visual contributions, written in an accessible way, to address audiences who are affected by the topics raised and/or are in a position to enact change.

The digital version of Urban Pamphleteer #9 is available through the link below. If you would like to buy copies of the print publication, these are also now available to order. For further information. please email urbanlaboratory@ucl.ac.uk.


Authors

The contributions include:
Robbie Kitt, Ireland, Dancing and Give Us the Night
Kuldip Singh and Yusu Yassin Dualeh, It’s Gonna Be Tonight
Amy Lamé, Interviewed by Ben Campkin
Rut Blees Luxemburg, Londonium
Ben Walters, Homemade Mutant Hope Machines
Len Évora, Summer Evenings
Rema Hamid, On Night-bound Alienation
Ana Naomi de Sousa, Night Walking in Lisbon During the Pandemic
Thys Boer and Julian Schaap, Reimagining Rotterdam’s Nightlife
José Manuel Vilalonga, Controlling Police Activity in a Pandemic Context
Jola Zych, Nite
Laura-Solmaz Litschel and Jola Zych, The Augmented City: Nocturnal Platform Labour Under Covid-19 Conditions
Hunnid22, Zing Ting
Ragazza, Night-time Sex Work Under Covid-19
Jorge da Veiga and Seger Kersbergen, Going Out is a Need
Joshua Idehen, Began in Fabric
VibeLab, Nighttime.org

Read the scanned copy here

More info here

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VibeLab Asia Pacific has released the Global Cities After Dark Sydney Future Proofing Report.

The report details the key themes, takeaways and recommendations that emerged from the Global Cities After Dark Sydney program held in March, 2021. The program included keynotes from international sector leaders and industry-led workshops from sector leaders in hospitality, live music and entertainment, major events and cultural tourism and transport and safety. More than 150 key actors within Sydney’s night time economy attended the week-long program from across these four sectors. 

The Future Proofing Report includes:

• Key and consistent themes that emerged from the industry-led workshops including diversity and equity, collaboration with police and policy makers, accessibility and safety planning, supporting local and affordability of space;
   
• 10 best practice examples from night time economies from around the world;
   
• 14 recommendations from across the night time economy sectors, as defined by the participants in the industry-led workshops;
   
• Key takeaways from the keynotes of international speakers Riyaaz Amlani, CEO & Managing Director of Impresario Entertainment (Mumbai, India), Paulette Long OBE, Deputy Chair of UK Music Diversity Task Force (London, UK), Vince Kadlubek, Founder of Meow Wolf (Santa Fe, USA) and Mark Curran, Rail Closures Planning Manager, formerly Night Tube Sponsor – Transport for London (London, UK).

“The next few years will continue to bring change, disruption and immense challenges for the live music and performance industries. Bringing exceptional professionals from across music, hospitality, and live performance together to meet, collaborate and conjure up new ideas for our city is the best way we know to prepare ourselves for whatever comes next. MusicNSW is thrilled to partner on this program, and is particularly keen to see different voices with a seat at the table, and ensure that we’re really seeking out and elevating those who are innovating, adapting and taking risks to try new things.”

Emily Collins, Managing Director Music NSW

NSW Music Industry Planning Meetings

We have announced a series of industry planning meetings from February until May, being hosted in partnership with MusicNSW. These meetings will conduct an industry analysis and align the NSW music industry to collaboratively plan for the future.

VibeLab is seeking expressions of interest from music industry stakeholders throughout NSW who are passionate and committed to the future of the NSW music industry to participate in these meetings.

Please submit your expression of interest here.

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The paper ‘Working Nights’ written by Alessio Kolioulis, Julian Siravo, Paul Apostolidis, Camille Kummer-Buléon, Louis Matheou and Cosimo Campani, defines the conditions of four categories of night-time workers.

• Food delivery drivers
• Sex workers
• Domestic care workers
• Night workers in logistics and retail

The paper highlights how cities need to democratise their economies by addressing the inequalities faced by night-time workers.

• Precarity is a defining characteristic of shift and night work. Workers do not choose to work at night, but often only do so out of necessity.

• The rise of precarious night work is partly due to the changing nature of the labour economy. This is particularly true for delivery and care workers.

• Sex work is rarely included in the NTE, but there are an estimated 72,800 sex workers in the UK and working at night is common. It is important to include them in progressive debates about the NTE.

• Workers in logistics, broadly defined as all workers employed in the chain that connects warehouses to retailing, are particularly affected by the precarity-shift work nexus.

• This report considers municipal strategies as a means to democratise the night-time economy, these include policy proposals and foundational infrastructures.

• The report makes two fundamental propositions: it calls for setting up a ‘nocturnal commons’ and argues that a key step to democratise the economy is addressing the precarity of night-time workers.

• Local governments can implement the set of propositions we outline in this part, in collaboration with unions, workers and grassroots organisations.

• The solutions and policies in this report are not intended to encourage more night work: evidence shows the detrimental health effects of shift work on workers.

The paper articulates municipal strategies as a means to democratise the night-time economy. These include policy proposals and foundational infrastructures.

Six suggested policy proposals

1. Establish ‘Night Work Assemblies’

2. Establish a ‘Night Workers Equity Commission’ to advise city-region

3. Apply community-centred frameworks for governing and developing Night Time Economies locally

4. Enforce a ‘Night Time Living Wage’

5. Establish ‘Night Funds’ to leverage resources for Public-Commons-Partnerships

6. Move towards applying community-based frameworks to regulating the night.

The report uses abolitionist frameworks beyond punitive approaches for piloting non-enforcement areas without compromising safety.

The report also calls for setting up ‘nocturnal commons’ infrastructure in the form of 24-hour workers centres, providing services that meet the needs of night-time workers: from trainings to healthcare and from resting stops to spaces for assembly.

Introduce and define the concept of ‘nocturnal commons’:

– Nocturnal commons are built for a community of night-time workers.

– Nocturnal commons are non-commodified common pool resources and services for workers of the night.

– Nocturnal commons are spaces where night-time workers meet, socialise & rest.

– Nocturnal commons improve the wellbeing of night-time workers & their community.

– Nocturnal commons can democratise the night-time economy by sharing resources & leveraging collaborative practices.

Under a Public Common Partnership model for nocturnal commons, local councils could provide the foundational infrastructures workers of the night need to rethink how goods and services are produced and distributed at night. While solutions and policies in the report are not intended to encourage more night work, Alessio argues that local governments can implement the set of propositions in collaboration with unions, workers and grassroots organisations.

Drawing from the direct experience and knowledge of workers, unions, collectives and researchers (too long to tag everyone, check our non non-exhaustive list of references) as well as @VibeLabNetwork and all of the contributors of the Global Night Time Recovery Plan.

Download the report here

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The research report “Voices of Creatives” conducted by VibeLab for GIZ, has been referenced in a recent policy informing report by the G20 Think Tank. The policy brief advises governments to recognise culture and creativity as an integral part of wider agendas. 

‘We urge Governments to recognise culture and creativity as an integral part of wider policy agendas (…). We recommend to include culture, cultural heritage and the creative sector in national and international post-pandemic recovery strategies, recognising that international cultural exchanges depend on strong cultural and creative actors in all countries.’ G20 Italy, Rome Declaration of the G20 Ministers of Culture July 30, 2021”

“Before the pandemic, the creative economy was growing rapidly and generating new jobs in every region of the world, predicted to account up to 10 per cent of global GDP by 2030. 

The crisis has brought this exceptional growth to a standstill, exposing the fragility of a sector dominated by micro-businesses, informal work practices and few tangible assets. Lockdowns have also highlighted the importance of cultural and creative activity in maintaining individual well-being and community resilience.

Our contention is not that the creative economy needs public subsidies to resume its previous growth. It does however require governments and multilateral organisations to recognise and address constraints and regulatory structures that have failed to keep pace with the rapid evolution of the sector. 

Another priority is to rebalance the glaring asymmetry between the growing power of transnational digital platforms and those who have created much of the content on which their prosperity rests.”

Read the full report here

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How have global lockdowns impacted the nighttime industries?

Lockdowns have created immense challenges for night-time industries, generating a ripple effect that has the potential to have lasting impacts. However, now is the time to enact change, to think creatively and try new and innovative approaches to overcome these obstacles and reignite the night-time economy.
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 catalyse thinking and action in three areas: 

• Education and Talent Development 
  
  Investment in the future generation of creatives enables them to learn, practice and experience artistic and creative endeavours. We are at risk of losing talent and skilled artists forever if we do not focus on funding and establishing talent development programs.

• Real Estate and Repurposing Space

The increase in vacancy of spaces across our cities may be troubling, but also signifies the shift in the way we live, work and shop. This signifies an opportunity to reconsider the ways in which we repurpose and activate these spaces. Taking a flexible and innovative approach to land use may be the key in reactivating urban areas in the short-term but could also lead to long term renewal.

• Localised Night-time Economy

A diverse night-time economy creates better amenity and liveability and should be considered not only in CBDs but across suburban and regional areas. The closure of international travel and shift to working from home is an opportunity to establish localised night-time economies and a tool to attract greater investment, business and population. 

VibeLab identifies pathways to reopening cities night-time economies and firmly believes that collaboration is key. VibeLab is committed to taking a collective and evidence based approach, generated through research and local partnerships to create a safer, more equitable and sustainable nighttime.

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