24 Hour Cities: Sensible or Superfluous?

Hayley Richardson | Wed, Feb 27th, 2008 | Category: Report | Tags: hayley richardson, new york city, economy, crime, tourism, casino, noise complaints, times square, 24 hours, city that never sleeps, market street, lewis mumford

The concept of 24 hours holds a special place in the popular imagination of Americans.  It evokes a sense of urgency and a sense of romance: late night diners, watching the sunrise, saving the world.  But the phrase is particularly relevant, and particularly overused, when it comes to cities.

Lewis Mumford wrote in The Culture of Cities that “through its complex orchestration of time and space, no less than through the social division of labor, life in the city takes on a the character of a symphony.” By essence of their being, Cities have the capability of suspending time. They can become postmodern playgrounds, where anything could and should happen, especially after midnight.

Given the increasing proclivity towards convenience culture, it comes as no surprise that cities often attempt to market themselves as 24 hour centers. Cities as diverse as Buenos Aires, Edinborough, Los Angeles and Macau all sing the praises of their 24 hour vibrancy in an attempt to seduce tourists. Understandable: One of the indictements most frequently made against Philly is that it’s NOT a 24 hour city. Indeed, a late-night walk along Market St. yields very little in the way of entertainment, the CD shops and restaurants boarded up. It’s eerie, post-apocalyptic, even.

But this leaves me to wonder, how many cities are actually true “24 hour centers”, and how economically effective is this strategy? Do the benefits outweigh the costs? Should the Next American City aim to be a 24 hour one?

Certainly the city that best embodies the 24 hour trope is New York, which has one of the world’s only nonstop public transportation systems and infamously insomniac residents. But it’s not the only US city that gets such a distinction. In New Orleans, with no citywide mandated bar closing time, revelers are free to roam the city as late as they want. But what are the night owls doing in these cities? Are they attending lectures at 3 in the morning? Serving meals to the homeless? Canoeing through the Bayou?

Mostly, they’re drinking. According to the Institute for Alcohol Studies, “Drinking-based leisure now dominates the nightlife of our urban centers, and its expansion has become the gauge of post-industrial prosperity.” The permitting process in most cities results in a late night scene that is dominated by fast food restaurants and bars, not by museums and libraries.

And along with alcohol comes noise.

This diagram illustrates the decibel levels found in many major cities, with New York being at the top. New York City’s non-emergency number, 311, gets about 1000 noise complaints a day, and NYC residents overwhelmingly list noise concerns at the top of their quality of life complaints.

The term “city that never sleeps” came from a 1950’s movie about gangsters in Chicago, which brings up the issue of crime.  Of all robberies anywhere in the USA in 2005, nearly 26% took place between midnight and 6 a.m., according to an analysis for USA TODAY. In order to make city centers into safer places, there would be tremendous expense associated with increased police forces.  Then there would also be the costs (both numerical and environmental) of providing enough lighting to create a sense of safety all night long. As we move towards a new era of sustainability, this would seem a step backwards.

And there’s never been a clear link made between a city’s nighttime economy, and its prosperity.  Some of the most popular tourist destinations in the country have among the earliest bar closing times of all major cities. Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Detroit bar owners, for example, are required by law to stop serving alcohol as early as 2 a.m. Certainly there’s revenue to be generated by late night permitting, or late night service, but just how much isn’t clear. However, a study conducted by New York City-based Simmons Market Research demonstrates that perhaps the demand for all-night cities isn’t quite what you would think.  When 21,000 adults were asked their whereabouts for a 24-hour period, just 1 in 100 Americans (1.14 percent) reported being at either a restaurant, bar, pub or cafe at any time between 12 a.m. and 3:59 a.m.

If you’re looking for a shining example of a truly 24 hour city, look no farther than to the postmodern spectacle known as a Casino. Its a fortress that defies all principles of rationality or reasonability.  And if that’s what the Next American City would look like, I would have to politely decline.

So go to bed, build a fort in your living room, go for a walk in the woods, wait for your coffee in the morning. It’ll taste even better.

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