CFP – Nightlife Recoveries

Nightlife Recoveries: Where do we go from here?

Urban Geography Research Group Session
RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2021, London, 31st Aug – 2nd September
Virtual Session

Alicia Souter, Newcastle University
Robert Shaw, Newcastle University

The nocturnal entertainment, hospitality and leisure industries across much of the world have been devastated following the impact of covid-19 enforced lockdowns that began in early 2020. The recovery is likely to be difficult, slow and uneven as different cities, regions, countries and sectors emerge in varying conditions of devastation. Despite the damage done, nightlife is likely to be in high-demand over the next few years as people crave the lost urban vibrancy, activity and opportunity of 2020-21. Prior to the pandemic, urban nightlife was seeing a new wave of governance through the proliferation of ‘night mayor’ and ‘council of the night’ schemes, while several cities were for the first time developing develop strategic plans for nocturnal public services. This session seeks to ask where nightlife, and urban nocturnal governance, go next. Can we pick-up from where we were in January 2020? Can space be provided for the recovery of alternative, creative and marginal nightlife activities, alongside the mainstream? Can the recovery of nightlife address the imbalances in service provision for nocturnal activity outside the entertainment, hospitality and leisure industries? Can the recovery be an opportunity for urban nightlives that are less exclusive on gendered and racialized grounds? What future is there for night mayors and similar schemes, and what role do they have in the recovery? We welcome papers which answer any of these or related questions, from scholars or practitioners, at all career stages and working in any geographical context. 

Key session themes: governance; night-time economy; mobilities; work and labour; post-pandemic futures; mainstream and alternative nightlife

To propose a paper please email an abstract (~250 words) to a.souter1@ncl.ac.uk and robert.shaw2@ncl.ac.uk by 28th February 2021.

Accepted presenters must register for the RGS-IBG Conference 2021, details at https://www.rgs.org/research/annual-international-conference/. 

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