The Urban Night: a Space Time for Innovation and Sustainable Development

International audienceJust like the human body, cities are bound by the rhythm of the transition between day and night. We are familiar with the city in daytime and have studied it closely, but the nighttime the city is too often forgotten. In Northern regions, where daylight is fleeting in the wintertime, cities have long carried out “daytime” activities in darkness. However, the colonization of the night is occurring in other regions as well. Today, this neglected space-time is very much coveted. More and more, human activities are unfolding during the night, constructing a new domain of work and leisure. Our hyper-modern society, characterized by disruptions to the social division of time, and marked by the individualization of behavior, changes in working rhythms and a new importance accorded to free time, has transcended the barrier of darkness. The nighttime city, as a clarification of the day, reveals the human condition and requires our full attention.The urban night, a long-forgotten dimension of the city, is now a central field of interest for researchers, communities and town councilors. Even better, it has become a space- time of innovation in relation to which town planning and the sustainable city can be rethought. In a society that is rethinking its nychthemera, the night has a lot to offer the day and the future