Urban nightscapes: spatiotemporal narratives and lived perceptions, the case of nighttime Lisbon

Book of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017The basis in writing this article is the dialectical relationship between urban space and human, focusing on the interaction that these two factors demonstrate during the night. In this context, the research interest is directed on the way the urban nightscape experienced from users on the possibilities of (public) space at night and how they affect human behavior and management of leisure, and conversely, on how the nightscape is affected and reshaped by the behavior and social practices of the users, especially young people. It has to be noted that selecting the investigation of the urban nightscape as culture forming space, it was assumed that research will be primarily based on the behavioral approach of night life in the city. Moreover, the urban experience is examined in the aspect of the night as a leisure or recreation time, therefore, it does not concern those who consider night time as working hours. Additionally, in this case, the time limits of night are specified approximately, in order to meet research needs. If we consider that at midnight according to the etymology of the word has been signified as "the middle of the night", night lasts from the time the sun goes down (between 19: 00-20: 00) to 21: 00- 22:00, followed by initiation of the night, lasting until dawn (5:00 to 6:00). Therefore, to overcome this ambiguity, it has been chosen to be noted as the beginning of the night, the time period of 22:00, which coincides the time out for many people and especially for youths.Published versio