Paper short abstract:

Through the advocacy work of two nightlife campaigns on the island of Ireland, I discuss how COVID-19 has ignited new opportunities for transformation for the future of nightlife in Belfast and Dublin by combating socio-economic and environmental issues in the night time economy and culture.

Paper long abstract:

Scholars have argued that much of our understanding of cities, their urbanism and urban development is based on perspectives from the daytime. However, in contemporary society, it is impossible to understand cities and urbanism without understanding cities at night (Florida, 2016; Kelly, 2016). In a unique sense, the night is a feature of every single city in the world meaning that some form of it is universal (Straw, 2018). Creating safe, vibrant and progressive night-time environments can be challenging; however, over recent decades authorities, practitioners, academics, and public and private sector organisations have recognised the importance of collaborations and partnerships to enhance nightlife landscapes (Avetisyan, 2020; Acuto et al., 2022). Indeed, the night has become an important topic of conversation since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. While nightlife spaces, such as nightclubs and other late-night entertainment spaces, were first to close and last to open to curb the spread of the virus, COVID-19 has ignited new opportunities for transformation for the future of nightlife on a local and global scale. In this paper, I discuss this duality in more depth, using the cities of Belfast and Dublin as case studies. I also draw on the work of two sibling nightlife campaigns on the island of Ireland, Free The Night (Northern Ireland) and Give Us The Night (Ireland), to showcase how the pandemic has further enhanced hope through advocacy work to combat broader socioeconomic and environmental issues surrounding the night-time economy and culture on the island of Ireland.