Art and Culture in Urban social Nightlife

The above picture was taken at the NAPA south campus and shows a recent addition to architecture and cultural investment in Trinidad and Tobago. Social Nightlife does not only include venues such as clubs and fetes but can take another form as culture and art represented through forms such as plays and concerts. The location of such buildings suggests corridor in arts and culture and that these areas are undergoing social changes in forms of art and culture. This type of nightlife tends to attract ‘cash-rich’ young professionals and students that are increasingly targeted as consumers. These types of people belong to a particular social class in society and it is reflected in the dress code for instance, too attend an event at such ‘prestigious’ places one would have to dress accordingly. In keeping with this same trend a number of favourite alternative venues have either closed down or bought up and transformed into trendy bars. The identities and experiences of young adults are changing and it has led to negative implications such as increased participation rates in further and higher education leading to lower marriage rates and greater dependency on the family household. This extended adolescence has fuelled an array of consumer lifestyles and identities beyond those traditionally identified as ‘youth’. This type of nightlife has led to dramatic and forceful transformations of cities moving away from images of decay, crime and dereliction in the 1970s and 1980s, to more vibrant, yet still problematic, places to live, work and be entertained into the 21st century. A distinctive part of this ‘return to the centre’ involves the promotion of the ‘cultural economy’, in which city centres have become leisure and entertainment hubs. Within this paradigm, it is now accepted that night-life activity defined here as licensed premises - pubs, bars, clubs, music venue, is an important economic sector in its own right. The concern then would be changes in city centre nightlife activity and the way in which young people shape their identity within such spaces. Gentrification is defined as the trend of middle- and upper-income people moving into city centres and rehabilitating much of the architecture but also replacing low-income populations, and changing the social character of certain neighbourhoods. This type of culture tends to promote gentrification in areas due to its social construct. 

The process of rebranding of culture and its institutions can also be reflected in the presence of these types of buildings, the main steps in rebranding comprise name creation and registration, the design of a logo and associated visual image, market research, and advertising. More fundamentally, rebranding might be seen either as a tactical issue whereby the new brand is operationally attached to the place product, or as an important strategic matter in which all the processes of the urban development authority revolve around the construction and development of the new brand. It is speculated that the creative sector has originated to from this type of rebranding and regeneration. Hall and Barrett talk about the origins of cultural spaces within cities and possible reasons for their creation. In this blog the negative aspects of this type of industry were highlighted more, however, there are many positive aspects of this type of urban social nightlife as it and culture by extension is the glue that binds our communities, organizations, groups and families together.

‘‘When given the choice of allowing the collapse of manufacturing to continue, unemployment to go on rising, city buildings to fall further into disrepair, public spaces to be abandoned; or to mobilise private and government investment into supporting artistic productions which can variously reverse these trends, my argument is that the[second] choice is a wise, ethical, and sustainable one’’. –M. Johnson