‘Let’s be friends’; exploring governance, crime precipitators and public safety in the night-time economies of Cardiff (Wales) and Perth (Australia)

ABSTRACT

There are tensions between agencies seeking to restrict and control the night-time economy (NTE) and those focused on promoting it. These tensions need to be inspected. Using perspectives from environmental criminology it has been hypothesized that planning governance issues, relating to the provision of public transport, taxis services and public toilets, may act to precipitate crime and disorder and exacerbate public safety issues. Utilising research findings from a study of regular users of the NTE’s of Cardiff (UK) and Perth (Australia), we test this hypothesis. The research findings suggest that the most appropriate manner in which to deal with crime and disorder in the NTE is through inter-agency partnership approaches involving the users of the NTE. This approach refocusses the debate to explore the positive elements of the NTE we do want. This contrasts with many contemporary approaches focused solely on the negative aspects of the NTE we don’t want.

KEYWORDS:

• Governance
• crime
• precipitators
• night-time economy
• planning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul Cozens

Dr Paul Cozens is an environmental criminologist and an internationally accredited Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) practitioner. He has worked as consultant on major infrastructure developments in the UK and Australia and provided policy advise to State government in Western Australia (WA). Paul is a Senior Lecturer at Curtin University.

Shane Greive

Dr Shane Greive is a lecturer in Urban and Regional Planning at Curtin University. His research and teaching interests include planning governance, housing studies, economic development and central city planning. His research has recently focussed on crime and anti-social behaviour in the night-time economy.

Colin Rogers

Colin Rogers is Professor of Policing and Law Enforcement at Charles Sturt University, NSW, Australia and Professor of Policing and Security at the University of South Wales, UK. A former police inspector, he has conducted research for and advised on police matters for governments and police agencies. His main research interests lay in policing, crime prevention and police education.