Rhythms of the Night: Spatiotemporal Inequalities in the Night-Time Economy

This paper seeks to extend the literature on inequalities and exclusion in the night-time economy through a rhythmic analysis of visitor presence in public space in nightlife districts in the city-centres of the Dutch cities of Groningen, Utrecht and Rotterdam. We demonstrate substantial inequalities in visitor presence based on race/ethnicity and gender. In the cities considered racial/ethnic inequalities vary more in spatial terms and gender inequalities fluctuate more heavily over the course of the night. Overall, however, the findings support the argument that exclusion from the night-time economy needs to be understood in temporal-ecological terms. Multiple drivers or pacemakers of rhythmic inequalities rooted in race/ethnicity and gender are identified, including opening hours and revellers’ collective habits. For advocates of greater diversity among night-time economy participants our analysis suggests that a more varied supply of nightlife premises or more surveillance and policing are no straightforward solutions: a strong orientation of premises on university students and urban professionals may promote gender-based inclusion but deters non-white revellers, and more police on the street may empower women to move through a nightlife district unaccompanied yet reduce the inclination to do so among racial/ethnic minorities.