With the city’s nightlife  back on its feet, after years of alcohol-related violence brought it  to its knees, the focus has turned now to developing and diversifying Newcastle’s night-time economy. 

Newcastle City Council is developing Newcastle After Dark, the city’s first specific strategy for late-night activities, which aims to balance priorities of safety, residential and visitor amenity, cultural participation and economic development. 

As part of the consultation period, the council held two workshops on Tuesday with key stakeholders, police, business owners and licensees, who worked to develop six priority areas to make the city safe and vibrant.

As well as the workshops, seven precinct walks through Newcastle East, The Junction and Merewether, Newcastle West and Wickham, Darby Street and Cooks Hill, Honeysuckle, Hamilton and the Civic and CBD areas have been organised to encourage people to engage with their local night-time economy. 

Newcastle City Council’s Smart City co-ordinator, Dr Nathaniel Bavinton – a strategic planner, urban sociologist and social researcher – co-ordinated the workshops. He said the aim was to harvest the good ideas, flesh them out and identify potential partners to work on them. 

‘‘Certain themes come through consistently,’’ Mr Bavinton said. 

‘‘We’re not expecting to be surprised at that bigger level, but what we are looking for is innovation at the smaller level.’’

 Dr Bavinton said a popular suggestion was integrating technology with the city’s nightlife. 

‘‘People have been talking about real-time information on your phone that tells you what is on, where the nearest public transport is, where certain venues are and even be able to book you a table at a restaurant,’’ he said. 

‘‘But the application side is only half of it, the sky is the limit. You can have  ways of finding that isn’t just signage, but something projected on a road or zebra crossing that provides information. It might say there is an event happening in Darby Street in 10 minutes with a clock counting down.’’ 

Dr Bavinton said safety in the city remained a critical influence on people’s engagement. In August this year, a Newcastle After Dark survey found the majority of respondents believe the city had turned a corner when it came to alcohol-related violence and can now be labelled safe, vibrant, inclusive and diverse.

‘‘Safety is the foundation,’’ Dr Bavinton said. 

‘‘No one comes out if they think they are going to be assaulted. No new businesses open up if they are worried their window is going to be kicked in. But the decline in public assault and malicious damage is at 34 and 37per cent, respectively, over seven or eight years. It is down and staying down. So we couldn’t have this discussion if we were in the old days.’’ 

Wednesday, October 14, The Junction/Merewether;

Thursday, October 15, Newcastle West/Wickham;

Wednesday, October 21, Darby Street/Cooks Hill;

Thursday, October 22, Honeysuckle;

Wednesday, October 23, Hamilton;

Thursday, October 29, Civic and the CBD.

Each guided walk starts at 7pm and ends in a workshop to hear your ideas.

The walks are free but places are limited. To register go to newcastle.nsw.gov.au and click on Community then Health and Safety, then Newcastle after Dark.

This article first appeared on The Herald website.