Data after dark - using technology to revitalise Sydney's night-time economy

The Data after Dark Project, which is being funded via the Digital Restart Fund’s Smart Places Program, will deliver an integrated data analysis platform that will be used to help inform decisions and measure the effectiveness of initiatives aimed at revitalising night-time economies in Greater Sydney and across NSW. 

For Sydney, Australia’s largest night-time economy, supporting a vibrant after-hours culture has been an important focus for some time - particularly in the face of changes in consumer behaviour, evolving regulatory and policy environments, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlocking Sydney’s true potential as a 24-hour city and supporting vibrant night-time spaces in regional cities is a priority, with a thriving night-time economy representing as much as $16 billion in additional economic uplift in Sydney alone. The use and application of reliable and consistent data will help to redefine what a good going out economy looks like for NSW, and build livelier, safer, and better connected after-hours communities.

In 2020 the NSW Government released Australia’s first state-level 24-hour Economy Strategy, identifying 15 strategic aims (image below). The following year, Michael Rodrigues was appointed as the country’s first 24-hour Economy Commissioner.

Given the impacts of the pandemic, both in the lead up to and following the release of the strategy, assumptions made previously about the night-time economy had to be challenged. Whilst lockdowns and restrictions caused disruption for businesses and changes in attitudes and behaviour, core night-time economy establishments have emerged in areas outside of the traditional locations. 

“New going out patterns are emerging, consistent with a more flexible approach to work. In particular there has been growth in areas outside Sydney's CBD with areas like Burwood, Parramatta and the Inner West really benefitting as workers replace redundant commute time with socialising. Meanwhile, the CBD of Sydney has seen a transformation from central business district to central entertainment district - evening trade has caught up with pre-pandemic levels, notwithstanding the reduction in its daytime audience,” says Michael.

If we work together, data can help us supercharge the night-time economy

Building on the work of colleagues such as the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors, the NSW Government has recognised a need to coordinate and agree on an approach for data-led and evidence-based decision making. WSP and Urbis have assisted with gaining a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities surrounding the NSW night-time economy, and the potential for using data to derive insights and develop solutions that serve people’s needs.

The Data After Dark project aims to provide a consistent and reliable framework to measure the impact of collective efforts to enhance the night-time economy. Seeking to reach agreement on the key questions to answer and the best data sets to answer these questions; the project leverages expertise in data, community engagement and software development to better understand:

• The health of the night-time economy including spend patterns, visitor numbers, safety and contribution to the economy 

• The impact of new programs and policies aimed at improving the performance, vibrancy, safety and inclusivity of night-time economies 

• How to unlock the unrealised potential of the night-time economy - whether it's catering to a wider range of people, building better active transport links, or improving actual safety and perceptions of safety. 

There is considerable existing data which is being used to inform activities associated with enhancing the strategic pillars and detailed actions of the Sydney 24-hour Economy Strategy.

“From ‘integrated planning and place-making’ through to ‘changing the narrative’, we can interrogate data to understand the behaviours of people engaging in the night-time economy and the performance of suppliers into the night-time economy, to gain powerful insights,” says James Vidler, Senior Solutions Architect at WSP.

“Potential uses for such data include advocacy to inform policy and regulatory changes, and strategic planning for agencies that have both a direct and indirect association with the night-time economy, through to informing decisions around placemaking and other forms of interventions. It is also vitally important to be able to measure the impact of these activities.”

“The types of data that can be used to deliver these potential uses include land use planning data, demographic information, movement and place data, expenditure data, business registers, event information and assessment data which can be used to inform strategic objectives.” 

“The best insights occur where multiple information sources converge,” says James.

To create better night-time economies, we may want to answer questions such as: ‘Why are people visiting our night-time areas? What is drawing them in? Who is not coming – and why not?’ The answers to these questions can be used to develop new initiatives to attract people.

While data provides a useful overview of people’s activities and may provide some clues as to their motivations, we also need to apply a qualitative approach to answer these questions and understand the full picture.

Harnessing human-centred design

Lucy Greig, WSP’s National Executive, Social Strategy and Outcomes, believes that alongside the quantitative data that is the intial focus of the Data After Dark Project, it’s important to understand the ‘why’ behind these behaviours. There are lots of things that widely-referenced data doesn’t necessarily tell us, - such as how our city is being experienced by women, girls and gender diverse community members.

“Using a human-centred design approach will help us to answer the challenge of how we can attract more people to experience and enjoy the city after dark.” 

“With so much data available on visitation, expenditure and social habits, a human focused approach to supporting a vibrant 24-hour economy and nightlife will benefit from the insights of qualitative research. Stories can bring to life rich understandings and contribute valuable learnings to complement what the quantitative data tells us about people and visitors,” she says. “It’s about understanding places that exist not just on maps but in people’s imaginations, memories and emotions.”

Furthermore, a deep understanding of consumer perceptions in all their diversity can be used to develop targeted interventions – like communications or activations – that resonate, supporting a shift in behaviour and a return or re-enlivenment of life in Sydney after dark.

Solving the right problem

Consultation has been at the core of the Data After Dark project discovery and design.

Dr Nathaniel Bavinton, Urbis’ lead in the collaboration, brings considerable experience in data-led night-time economy projects. Dr Bavinton agrees that understanding both the key challenges of the city at night through a data lens, and the kinds of ways that planners and place managers would like to improve their decision making, is critical.

“It is all about being confident you are solving the right problem,” he says.

“Night-time economies are complex, whether they run for just a few hours after dark or right through the 24-hour cycle. They incorporate all the challenges of cities, with some extra thrown in. They are also highly localised and are very different depending on where they are and who participates. As a result, there is a very wide range of potential problems to be solved.”

WSP and Urbis developed a human-centred design approach to understand the kinds of problems that are shared by stakeholders and included them in co-designing a response (shown below).

“It is important that the likely end users of the solution have a strong voice in shaping it. We needed to validate our assumptions every step of the way. This had the added benefit of growing awareness across the sector of what problems are shared most broadly and the types of data that would contribute most effectively to solving them,” Dr Bavington says.

The opportunity for smarter, Future Ready^TM cities 

Cities across the world are aiming to strengthen their economies, attract visitors and create vibrant cultural destinations – night-time economies are a fundamental component of achieving these objectives. People and their desires for diverse and engaging experiences lie at the heart of a thriving city, and the night-time economies that understand their consumers and can adapt to their needs as they evolve will reap the economic rewards.

In the digital era, both the function of a place and the associated consumer needs can be understood through consolidated, curated and readily consumable data sources. Trends can be extracted from this data to inform policy interventions and projects, and to ensure cities are Future Ready. The challenge in bringing a data-led approach to our urban systems to life will be to understand what data is available, and how the data could be combined and ultimately made useful to decision makers. 

There are numerous opportunities for data to inform planning activities, unpick consumer behaviour and build compelling night-time economies. Once data is consolidated, curated and made readily consumable it will be possible to measure the effect of interventions, allowing for targeted improvements to be made over time, and providing a valuable investment for governments and industry leaders.

Next steps for Data After Dark

The Office of the 24-hour Economy Commissioner has engaged the NSW Data and Analytics Centre to develop a minimum viable product (MVP) data platform to measure and analyse a number of key data sets associated with the night-time economy.

The MVP will provide a range of data visualisation and analysis tools across expenditure, people movement, public transport, business composition and licensed premises to help government officers make data-lead decisions. The MVP is undergoing user testing and iterative development and it is due to be finalised and released in late August 2023. 

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