"Italy"

The chapter focuses on the analysis of this connection between nightlife and crime/disorder issues, starting from a qualitative research carried on in the city of Bologna , which represents an interesting case study to analyse the issue in a specific context. In Italian contemporary society “nightlife” is a concept whose importance has been increasing enormously in many different contexts: as an issue of public debate, as a key element to understand changes in young people behaviours and as a central topic in many aspects of regulation of urban life, including regulations of crime and disorder and improvement of the city marketing. In Italy, as elsewhere night life is an important issue in two different and conflicting ways: on the one hand improving extension of lifetime represents a resource for the development of the 24 hours city. On the other hand, nightlife is still associated to feelings of unsafety and anxiety and to some forms of crime and disorder. Both these way of interpreting nightlife are at the core of a conflict among different social groups and different regulations of urban life. The research shows how this conflict unfolds in the context of urban nightlife in the city of Bologna.