Cities Reimagined

← Cities Reimagined23 Jul 2025 · 47 min

Reimagining the City at Night - with Simone d'Antonio

Reimagining the City at Night - with Simone d'Antonio23 Jul 202547 min

Have you ever felt how different cities feel, look, and smell at night? How everything is seems to be so different than during the day… having organised punk rock concerts and worked in a club myself during my teenage and student years, I had many touchpoints with the nighttime economy from early on. You might think now of all the clubs and bars… yes, they are part of that, but there is much more to it: workers in culture, logistics, health care, communication, and many more.

In today’s episode, I FINALLY have Simone d’Antonio on the show. Simone is based in Rome, Italy, and you may have come across Simone’s name at some point. Because he’s a familiar face in urban innovation circles, both in Europe and worldwide.

Currently, he is working with 10 cities on their nighttime policies and activities (find out more about the Cities After Dark URBACT Network here), and it was high time to connect online

In our conversation, he convinced me that working on nighttime policies is more than hanging out in bars…

Tune in to find out why the night doesn’t only belong to lovers, as Patti Smith once claimed, but to everyone.

Tune in to find out:

What if the night-time economy was about care, culture, and community, not just clubs and barsWhy cities at night are fighting a quiet war against the sofa and the apps on your phoneWhy the right to the city should be a 24/7 thingWhy Naples might be the northernmost city of the Global SouthHow urban nightlife differs depending on cultures, geographies and climates.