Research: Co-creation of night-time policy. The key to success?

Reading time: 3 minutes.

From two different case studies that played on nightlife, nightlife enthusiasts, club owners and local residents were interviewed who had experience with (the lack of) cooperation on nightlife policies. In addition, (municipal) policy and vision documents on nightlife were analysed. These interviews discussed what stakeholders consider important when it comes to making nightlife policies together, where a number of key factors recurred in each interview. All stakeholders wanted to feel more actively involved in the decision-making process around nightlife policy. The interviews revealed that respondents felt only the municipality and club owners were actively involved in the decision-making process, and although not all respondents indicated they wanted to actively participate in this, they wanted to feel more empowered to do so. In addition, respondents also wanted to be committed to developing a shared perception on the nightlife policy to be developed. In many of the interviews, it emerged that respondents often did not feel understood by the municipality in their views on nightlife and even that there was a structural difference in views on the night between stakeholders. In line with this, respondents mentioned that they would like to see more opportunities for informal communication with each other and the municipality to be able to discuss an area-specific night vision with night policies together. Finally, respondents also expressed a desire for more transparency on decision-making around night policies. Respondents indicated that they did not feel that information on this was available, and when it was, they did not find it clear where they could request it.

In summary, based on this research, it can be concluded that there are four identifiable factors that play a role in the success or failure of co-creation of night policies, namely: role in the problem; shared perception; communication; transparency. Initially, in addition to interviewing local residents, club owners and nightlife enthusiasts, it was also planned to interview municipal spokespersons on this topic. However, after repeated requests, there was no response from the municipality of Rotterdam. From this, together with the lack of specific night vision in policy documents, it was difficult to identify municipal wishes on the night. However, the inability to reach the municipality around questions on nightlife and the lack of clear municipal vision on nightlife in policy documents can be interpreted as an indicator that the municipality does not consider nightlife as a separate policy issue but more as an incidental part of area development in a broad sense.

Discovering these factors provides opportunities for setting up co-creation processes in specific case studies around nightlife. Nightlife appears to play a greater role as a specific policy theme for stakeholders than the municipality pays attention to in its policy documents. Nightlife stakeholders indicated that they would view nightlife policy more positively if it had been developed through co-creation and the associated four factors resulting from this research. This more positive view of stakeholders has implications for the relationship citizens would have with the municipality and could also result in an increase in the appreciation citizens give to their living environment. Rotterdam, the city of Make It Happen, would therefore do well to experiment with this.

Want to know more? Read the survey here.

Written by Roel Minnaard (September 2020)