Night Matters—Why the Interdisciplinary Field of “Night Studies” Is Needed

The night has historically been neglected in both disciplinary and interdisciplinary research. To some extent, this is not surprising, given the diurnal bias of human researchers and the difficulty of performing work at night. The night is, however, a critical element of biological, chemical, physical, and social systems on Earth. Moreover, research into social issues such as inequality, demographic changes, and the transition to a sustainable economy will be compromised if the night is not considered. Recent years, however, have seen a surge in research into the night. We argue that “night studies” is on the cusp of coming into its own as an interdisciplinary field, and that when it does, the field will consider questions that disciplinary researchers have not yet thought to ask

Events in the affective city: Affect, attention and alignment in two ordinary urban events

In a representational regime, planned urban events are used by urban planners to render urban projects visible and acceptable. As a corollary of the focus of urban studies on their representational dimension and in spite of a burgeoning literature on the notion of affective urbanism, the experiential character of events remains surprisingly unexplored. This paper argues that an ordinary regime of events is mobilised by city-makers to act on the embodied, affective experience of the city and on the ways urban dwellers know and act upon the city. By analysing planned urban events in their embodied, experiential dimension, we focus on the ways in which, through the design of ephemeral material dispositives, urbanists attempt to encourage citizens to incorporate ways of knowing and acting on space and on the modalities of knowing and acting that are at play. We stage an encounter between critical event studies and Ingoldian approaches to affect and attention, examining two urban events in a Swiss canton. We show how intense encounters with urban matter are staged in an attempt to modulate affects, guide attention, and produce alignment with a specific political project, asking urban dwellers either to embody a project still in the making or to cultivate expectations regarding an already-written future

Ouvrir les nuits

Le pressioni esercitate sulla notte, che cristallizzano questioni economiche, politiche, ambientali e sociali fondamentali, aumentano sempre più. Le società ridefiniscono profondamente i propri ritmi nictemerali e le attività umane si spostano progressivamente verso la notte ricomponendo nuovi spazi per il lavoro e il tempo libero. Emancipandosi dai vincoli naturali, le nostre metropoli si animano sotto l’influenza di stili di vita sempre più desincronizzati, di orari di lavoro più brevi e di nuove tecnologie di illuminazione e comunicazione. Negli ultimi trent’anni circa, la notte è stata gradualmente colonizzata dalle attività umane e l’esito di questo movimento di espansione oltre i limiti del giorno, è che la notte si è imposta nell’attualità del giorno per i migliori accadimenti (feste, eventi, ecc.) così come per i peggiori (violenza urbana, conflitti, insicurezza...). Dopo i lavori pionieristici della fine degli anni Novanta è emerso, e ha preso forma, un nuovo campo di ricerca, quello dei “Night studies”, che riunisce storici, geografi, urbanisti, sociologi, economisti, antropologi, etnologi, filosofi, biologi, specialisti della cultura e della comunicazione, politologi, architetti, artisti e professionisti. In tutto il mondo si moltiplicano convegni, seminari, ricerche, tesi e mostre che esplorano, spesso in modo interdisciplinare, i limiti della notte urbana, la colonizzazione, l’insicurezza, la governance, le politiche pubbliche, lo sviluppo, la qualità della vita, la convivenza, i progetti di illuminazione, il paesaggio, la mobilità, le rappresentazioni, la cartografia, l’innovazione, il marketing

Transforming rural light and dark under planetary urbanisation:comparing ordinary countrysides in India and the UK

\u3cp\u3eContemporary global lightscapes are becoming increasingly complex and varied, creating an unusual geography of technological development and diffusion that defies many easy narratives of global interconnectivity. Specifically, new LED lighting technologies are being created through rural experimentation in both Global North and Global South. This makes lighting, and darkness, an interesting lens through which to intervene in debates on the relationship between city, countryside, and planet, specifically addressing the theoretical developments of comparative urbanism and planetary urbanisation. Heading calls to develop conceptual material from both Global North and Global South, we use case studies from Bihar (India) and the North Pennines (UK) to argue that the changing lighting technologies and practices show how “ordinary countrysides” are contributing to new planetary ways of living. We argue that while there are differences in how darkness and the implementation of artificial lighting are perceived in these sites, there are similarities that reveal an ongoing rural form of planetary living, outside the claims of urbanisation. Particularly, rural lives are marked by a closer connection to the planet, as expressed through experiences of rural darkness. Furthermore, in both sites the tenuous grasp on infrastructure and state services seems to reveal a shared rural experience. These findings suggest shared rural experiences of globalisation, but that the socio-spatial contexts of places remain important in understanding their location within global systems. Furthermore, we join recent calls to suggest that further exploration of the difference between “global” and “planetary” might add nuance to theoretical trends in urban studies, rural studies, and geography.\u3c/p\u3

Rythmes événementiels et aménagement des espaces publics à Paris, Montréal, Bruxelles

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