Politiche per la socialità notturna — Night Socializing Policies

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Politiche per la socialità notturna — Night Socializing Policies

Activities and initiatives to enhance evening and nighttime coexistence and reduce tensions in the city’s most problematic areas.

Trento City Council

Italy

Local policy

POLICY OBJECTIVE

Foster dialogue, ensure a peaceful and restful environment, and address the need for evening and nighttime sociability by supporting and encouraging people who develop alternative gatherings and entertainment. In particular:

Improve evening and nighttime coexistence.
Meet the need for evening and nighttime social interaction.
Combat loneliness by promoting social interaction through policies of nighttime and urban liveability.

CONTEXT

A growing interest in Trento’s relationship with nightlife prompted the decision to introduce the figure of Night Mayor, Italy’s first.

In recent years tensions have mounted between individuals actively seeking to engage in nighttime activities and those demanding guaranteed peace and quiet. These tensions are often attributed to rising enrolment at the University of Trento, which today accommodates roughly 16,000 local and non-local students. But structural reasons, including an inadequate evening and nighttime cultural offer and a lack of venues tailored to demand, contribute to the problem.

Moreover, there is a stigmatizing narrative surrounding nighttime social activities, and a lack of in-depth scientific research and of serious political debate on the matter. But a fundamental reason, shared with many Italian cities, is the inadequacy of the city’s nightlife-oriented urban spaces.

POLICY DESCRIPTION

We intervened in four areas: Dialogue and Reconciliation; Accessibility and Safety; Offer and Alternative Spaces, and Research and Exchanges.

Actions included encouraging dialogue and discussion about nightlife in workshops open to the entire community; introducing an on-call night bus service; improving lighting in parks; programming cultural and musical activities in three city parks after midnight; engaging the student community in creating social alternatives; investigating the phenomenon through research in collaboration with the University of Trento, and developing a regulation for coexistence between residential functions and economic activities.

KEY ASPECTS

Establishing the notion of the night as a space for growth, expression, hybridization, and creation as the foundation for these actions was no straightforward task. Indeed, seeing nightlife as adding social, cultural, and economic value, rather than as a battleground of irreconcilable needs, represents a true cultural shift.

This is the aim of the policies, which seek to analyse and manage nighttime social interactions with innovation. The goal is ambitious and the road ahead is long, but the Municipality of Trento has successfully begun an important journey in this direction.

RESULTS

More than 60 internal meetings; over 60 sessions with citizens, business owners, and the student community; upwards of 10 meetings with other cities and administrations, and 10 events open to the public or in schools.
Over 25 initiatives of various kinds implemented.

Policy's Website

Giulia

Casonato

Executive Councillor for Sustainability, Digital Innovation and Participation

assessore.verdeedigitale@comune.trento.it

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