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Safe Nightlife Programs

Rationales, Local Differences and

Side Effects

Ilse van Liempti.vanliempt@geo.uu.nl

2 Safe Nightlife Programs in Rotterdam & Utrecht

1Why Safe Nightlife Districts?

Outline

3 Different legitimizations and local differences

4 Effects of Safe Nightlife Programs on Nightlife Districts

Why do cities want ’safe’ nightlife districts?

Cities have always had nightlife districts

Why this sudden urge for safety?

Focus on leisure & consumptionSafe and clean spaces attract more visitors

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Policy analysis & expert interviews

RotterdamWorking class citySecond largest city

PopulistNo-nonsense Zero tolerance

Policy analysis & expert interviews Utrecht Student city

Fourth largest city Socialist/Green Human Rights

Collaborations between different parties:

City council

Nightlife industryPoliceVoluntary actors

‘the extended policing family’

Everybody takes their responsibilityBoundaries between public and private are mystified

What are Safe Nightlife Programs?

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Urban design: lighting, public toilets

On-site patrols---Increasing private forms of security

Safety measures

CCTVMobile camera surveillance

Laws and regulations to fight ‘disorder’

Enforcement of codes, standards and certain moral

ideals

Safety measures

High tech measures such as CCTV very popular, (especially in nightlife districts)but proven to have limited effectiveness (especially in nightlife districts)

Low tech measures such as lighting not very popular, but proven to be effective

Legitimizing safety measures

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One warning signfor each public camera

Utrecht has put a maximum on the amount of

cameras for the total city (87) and images are only watched live on clubbing nights

Local Differences in Surveillance Discourse

‘In Utrecht we do not want to spy on innocent citizens, we only actively watch camera images if there is a considerable risk that something might happen’

Rotterdam has the highest number of

cameras in the Netherlands (350) and images are watched 24/7

Local Differences in Surveillance Discourse

One warning signfor 3 public cameras

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‘In Rotterdam we do not want to create an illusion of safety, we do not want an empty box. One very important pillar of our safety policy is that we watch

video images 24/7’

Safe Nightlife Programs may result in more visitors feeling at ease, but they also contribute to the exclusion of other visitors

The search for a risk free nightlife

Who are (potential) ‘troublemakers’ & according to whom? What does this mean for the public character

of public space?