Having completed my undergraduate degree in Geography and subsequent MA in Human Geography Research at Newcastle University, I am set to start my +3 doctoral studentship in October 2018. My main interest lies within the social and cultural realms of geography, my research focussing primarily on alcohol consumption within public and private space and place.
My PhD project sets out to explore the governance of the urban night through the Night Mayor schemes of Amsterdam and London. It will investigate these previously unstudied modes of governance to interrogate their effect on the everyday life of ‘night people’ and the political economy in both locations. The project seeks to incorporate both research surrounding the evening-night time economy (ENTE) and its various modes of governance as well as using this as a lens to analyse the relationship between the ENTE and the alcohol
industries potential harm. This research will collaborate with alcohol charity Balance North East to develop a blueprint for best practice across British Cities and their ENTE’s. Situating itself within a framework of political economy and its intersection with everyday life, this project will use Hadfield’s four modes of nocturnal governance to frame the research: Law, Statute and Urban Design; Police Governance; Private Governance; and Affect and Informal Governance. This project will adopt predominantly qualitative methods, to produce subjective and rich data essential for elucidating information tied up with lived experiences. Data will be collected in three stages including focus groups, elite interviews, volunteered geographic information and time lapse photography taking place. With Night Mayor schemes newly launched and spreading internationally, this research is perfectly placed to provide real relevance to policy on a local and national scale.
