I’ve for the last several years worked on events team for a campaign promoting positive nightlife in Calgary and Edmonton. Working on this events team has caused me to spend some time reflecting what a good nightlife scene and attitude can offer a city.
The obvious thing people always say is that bars economically benefit a city via providing jobs and profitable businesses. … Yawn… Yeah, that’s true, but seriously it’s unexciting and I think in this respect the contribution of nightlife to a city is marginal. Many of the employees are students and would otherwise just get some other job like Starbucks and seriously, a lot of the employees who are not students should probably consider moving on with their lives anyway. I have no evidence for this but I would be surprised if the amount of wealth generation by nightclubs and bars in general was that great. (Feel free to call me out on this. I am actually quite curious.)
Nightlife contributes to cities in another way which I actually consider to be more important. It makes a city “cool”. Consider being in a city like San Diego. The city is not significantly more populated than Edmonton or Calgary. Yes the population density is higher than Edmonton or Calgary, but it’s not nearly on the order of Metropolises like New York or London and it’s actually roughly the same as Regina. So what makes San Diego (one of my favourite citys) stand out when you are there. Yes, there is the fact that the weather is awesome. There is the fact you are close to the ocean. Seattle has both of those but does not come off as nearly as attractive of a city. San Diego makes you feel cool. When you go to a bar the bar is cool. The people around you seem cool. You feel kind of like a rock star. This makes a city both more attractive as a tourist destination (See Las Vegas) and as somewhere to live.
Next comes another way nightlife *can* contribute to a city which is does not in Alberta due to what I consider to be an attitude problem we have in this province. When people go to bars in Alberta the primary goal for a large portion of the bar going population is to get wasted and for a large portion of the bar going population is to hook up. What this means is that the bar really isn’t a positive social atmosphere. When I go to talk to women about nightlife issues they always respond in a “Must evaluate this guy hitting on me to see if he’s worthwhile” way and guys are defensive because if I’m not gay then I am officially another guy hanging with them thereby reducing their chances of having sex. (Not that being gay would be any better… Then I’d be “hitting on them” which they would probably also not like.) What this does is reduces people’s ability to meet people they have no sexual interest in but who may interest them in other ways in bars.
Meeting people with common interests is the foundation of building vibrant communities in a city and it is communities within a city that make it successful. Take for example the bay area. Companies like Twitter can become successful because the technology community there not only provides support for new companies, but also an initial user base for new products. As an example of how nightlife can be successful two of my friends met at the Black Dog in Edmonton and they now collaborate on several projects including a company one of them is starting. This however is rare. Guys out there, when was the last time you met a guy at a bar you ever talked to again? Also for those looking to have a one night stands decreasing the sexual nature of interactions makes it easier to meet people.
So in summary I think with a change in nightlife attitude nightlife can be a more positive influence on our cities. And I gotta run.