Studio N: Managing Cities at Night

Cities do not stop as the lights go down. If urban areas are now recognised as crucibles of sustainable and equitable development at a planetary scale, little attention is paid to the night, when half of urban activities take place. New 'after-hours' thinking is needed. Evidence is clear to this direction: the night-time economy is a key driver of Australia's growth. It employs 900k people across Australia and generates $128 billion. Around 1-in-9 employees work night shifts, often with low pay and precarious health conditions. Over 2% of Australian households live in ‘food deserts’ where affordability plummets at night-time. Several cities have recognised this, with the recent introduction of night time strategies, pilot programs, night time strategies and commissions, even ‘night mayors’ – not least in London, Amsterdam and Sydney.

This intensive studio was delivered by the Melbourne Centre for Cities. It focused on ‘night time’ governance, planning and policy for built environment practitioners and offered a venue to further refine interdisciplinary and policy-relevant understanding of urban planning, urban design and architecture at night time for scholarly and professional careers. It presented students with a chance to both test interdisciplinary urban analysis as well as practical (industry and policy) engagement with stakeholders and studio clients.

The studio took a design approach to produce tangible practice-worthy tools. Students worked with instructors and experts (from academia and practice) to identify key night-time challenges for two cities, testing the input provided by diverse mode of thinking about the urban against ‘after-hours’ and ‘24 hour' views of the city.

In 2021, the studio focussed on developing night time precincts in the cities of Melbourne (VIC) and Canberra (ACT). The challenge for studio participants was to learn from national and international cases to then design Melbourne and Canberra’s night time precincts. Students had the opportunity not only to learn about night time governance but connect with experts and stakeholders currently working to shape how Melbourne and Canberra work in practice, sharpening comparison and policy engagement skills.

Studio outcomes

The studio centred on eight main learning outcomes, namely:

• Demonstrating of critical thinking in identifying and engaging with issues related to the night time in cities.
• Demonstrating systematic/creative thinking and problem solving by analysing how night time issues affect planning, design and construction processes in a particular location.
• Developing skills in comparative analysis through the joint consideration of distinct contexts.
• Effectively communicating and convey a sense of design work through strategic use of multiple media tools.
• Interdisciplinary teamwork and knowledge transfer with built environment practitioners
• Assessing different modes and methods of urban research and their relationship with urban policy practice.
• Unpacking a complex urban (policy) problem from a variety of evidence-based viewpoints.
• Appreciating the interplay and differences between humanities, natural, engineering, and social science thinking about complex urban problems.

Examples of student work

Harmonious Night Time Economy - Braddon Precinct (ACT)

Night Time Precinct Review - Docklands (VIC)

A Healthier Night Time Economy - Fawkner Park Precinct (VIC)

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