How can cities function seamlessly both day and night? What happens when the 15-minute city concept meets the night-time economy? Can decentralising nightlife create safer, more accessible, and sustainable urban environments? In this article, Simone D’Antonio explores how cities are integrating night-time activities into urban planning—examining mobility solutions like extended public transport, strategies for reviving nightlife beyond city centres, and the role of public spaces in fostering cultural and economic vibrancy after dark. From Barcelona’s Superblocks to Melbourne’s Night Network, discover how a 24-hour approach to urban life is shaping the cities of the future.
The 15-minute city concept, popularised by Carlos Moreno, has gained significant traction in urban planning in recent years, spreading a model of city where essential services are accessible within a 15-minute walk or bike ride. While this concept offers solutions to several challenges such as improving quality of life, reducing social isolation, and addressing traffic and pollution, the global discussion around the 15-minute city didn’t take fully into account the nocturnal dimension of the cities.
Key urban pillars—business and cultural vibrancy, creation of new services, use of public spaces and green areas, safety, and contrast to noise—must be connected to the proximity-focused framework of the 15-minute city, creating a holistic, 24-hour approach to urban living.
Topics such as the decentralisation of night-time activities emerging from local reflections and from EU policy documents like the Urban Agenda for the EU on Sustainable Tourism highlight the need to incorporate the dimension of proximity into urban planning through a chrono-urbanism perspective.
Increasing the quality and quantity of services and activities available after dark closer to the places where people live is a crucial aspect of urban planning. Bringing the night closer to home has drawn inspiration from case studies such as the UIA ToNite project in Turin, which fostered the accessibility of night-time activities by organising after-dark programmes in public spaces and parks.
The Challenges of Proximity in the Night-Time Economy of Barcelona & Melbourne
The lack of references to the city at night by theorists of the 15-minute city concept has prompted researchers to investigate the complex factors and processes characterising the planning models of the nocturnal city. A flagship city of the 15-minute city model, Barcelona serves as a great example of how the implementation of innovative policies, such as the Superblock programme—which fostered walkability and resilience in various neighbourhoods—has a limited impact on reviving nightlife if these policies are not included in a broader framework.
The concentration of most night-time establishments in the city centre of Barcelona has left peripheral areas with few opportunities for recreation in nocturnal hours, negatively impacting cultural and business vibrancy across wide areas of the city. The need to plan and design the nocturnal 15-minute city is emerging as a decisive element of Barcelona’s upcoming night-time economy strategy. This approach aims not only to preserve nightlife industries, which play a crucial role in tourism attractiveness, but also to maintain informal nightlife practices in the city and grant the right to the city at night for all.
In Barcelona, as in other cities across Europe, these regulations must evolve alongside urban strategies on sustainability. Granting the right to sustainable mobility options after 10 p.m. is one of the elements that Barcelona wants to enforce to promote better access to cultural events and activities after dark.
In Melbourne, the extension of the Yarra Trams—the world’s largest tram network—to operate during nocturnal hours with the Night Network, made permanent in 2017, and the Free Tram Zone in the city centre had a considerable impact in making the night-time economy more vibrant and accessible.
The combination of the 15-minute city model and a night-time economy strategy can positively impact night workers, reducing commuting times and improving the quality of life for a large section of the population working night shifts.
Making the night-time economy more accessible is not just a matter of urban design, but also requires continuous adaptation of licensing and safety regulations. A stronger focus on informal spaces can contribute to making cities more liveable at night and improving access to parks and public spaces for activities that engage local youth, families, and elderly persons.
Planning and mitigation strategies after dark are a pressing need for cities looking to foster resilience through proximity strategies, especially considering that rising temperatures are pushing several activities from daytime to nocturnal hours.
Community and sustainability: Redefining Nightlife for Growth & Connection
In medium-sized cities such as Trento (118,000 inhabitants), the implementation of proximity policies to improve the quality of nightlife is crucial for reducing conflicts among different categories of residents. In a city where most night-time economy activities revolve around a growing student population, redefining the night as a space for growth, expression, and hybridisation has strengthened the connection between night policies and ecological transition.
The diversification of night-time activities in space and time and the enhancement of lighting infrastructures in public parks have fostered the organisation of activities involving night establishments and the local student community, with a positive impact on reducing conflicts among different generations of residents.
Managing nightlife as one would manage daytime activities is not only the approach followed by Trento but also aligns with principles promoting the right to time and time policies at a global level.
Lessons Learned and Going Forward
Night bus systems in Tallinn and Varna, policies for decentralising night-time activities in Zadar, Genoa, and Budva, the use of public spaces at night in Piraeus, and the revival of bars and commercial activities outside tourist areas in Malaga and Nicosia are examples of how proximity and time-based policies can be promoted through innovative approaches.
Discussions among urban planners and policymakers have highlighted the importance of stronger coordination among different city departments and the active engagement of residents as enabling factors for bringing night-time activities closer to communities while reducing potential conflicts over noise pollution and misuse of public spaces.
Simone D’Antonio is a Policy Analyst and expert of sustainable urban development and night-time economy and Lead Expert of the URBACT network Cities After Dark.
This article is an edited version of the chapter “15-Minute City and the Night-Time Economy” in URBACT’s third Network Journal of Cities After Dark.
