MAKE Meets Mannheim: NØK International Night Culture Conference 2019 

MAKE founder, Alistair, was asked to talk on the opening panel at 2019’s Mannheim. It was both a great honour and amazing fun. The conference had the best mix of speakers and professional organisation of any event that we have attended in over 20 years in our field of after dark cities. It felt like something new was happening here courtesy of organisers StartUp Mannheim, the cutting-edge culture agency for the city and region.  

Harvard academic Andreina Seijas gave the keynote – a superb overview of the genesis of the 24hr city and latest debates in managing cities at night. Her latest research can be found in the paper published with former Amsterdam night mayor Mirik Milan that sets out the current state of the global night mayor movement and some of the challenges it faces – it’s well worth your time. 

Joining Alistair and Andreina on the panel was Italian academic Alessia Cibin who talked about ‘who are night mayors for?’ and is now on her way to Sydney to undertake further research into the night mayor phenomenon (keep an eye out for her emerging findings). Techno and nightlife aficionado and cultural activist Angela Balasch completed the panel. Her knowledge and passion for global nightlife and club culture is unparalleled and we were able to talk about some of the very real challenges facing towns and cities such as Barcelona and Venice where tourism pressures are destabilising existing communities and ways of life and underground nightlife.  

The remainder of the conference was hugely interesting. Speakers from across the world spoke of challenges which are both ones we recognise here in the UK but also have local spin. For example some countries face the opposite of UK at night – that is a lack of recognition for how important nightlife is culturally, socially and economically to a city and how can it be pushed up the political agenda. Other issues emerging globally are the implications of a 24hour global economy and working and its impact on employees, public transit and work-life balance. It was nice to speak at an event that went way beyond the usual focus on nightlife and its attendant problems and considered wider wellbeing and sociological issues.  

Whilst Berlin has long had its Club Commission, Germany itself is really just starting to get to grips with what the ‘after dark’ city is now and can be. However, if the quality of speakers and insight they already possess here in Mannheim is an indicator, it is only a matter of time before we see even small cities in Germany blazing a trail for the coordinated, integrated and diverse 24-hour urbanism (For example, Mannheim is now a UNESCO City of Music. Yet it has a population of just 300,000 people but its cultural development is way, way ahead of most other European cities of that size and even those in the 1m+ population).

https://noek-conference.com

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