THE POWER OF PLACE : REVIVING THE GOING-OUT ECONOMY IN NEW SOUTH WALES
By Michael Rodrigues , 24-Hour Economy Commissioner
VIBRANT NIGHT-TIME ECONOMIES ARE PLACED-BASED AND COMMUNITY-LED : ENCOURAGING LOCAL COMMUNITIES TO TAKE OWNERSHIP , FEEL A SENSE OF CONNECTION AND BELONGING , AND ACTIVELY ENGAGE WITH NEIGHBOURHOOD PLACES AND PRECINCTS .
INTRODUCTION In New South Wales , people have been coming together to tell stories for over 60,000 years . This was the original goingout economy , in which entertainment was , broadly speaking , an innately social activity .
However , in the history of humankind , we have increasingly etched our way from connection to economic consumption . Most recently , we have sought to replicate human belonging in our homes through screens . The pandemic only exacerbated the pernicious panacea of the Netflix era .
Now , we are seeing the shift back again to a going-out economy , moving away from the insular lives that we endured through COVID-19 . People are once again seeking amusement outside their homes and taking pride in their local areas . As we look to the future , we know that it is placed-based and communityled , because it is the storytelling of our experience that makes us unique .
Night-time economies ( NTE ) are nothing new , but some new imperatives have emerged in NSW . We now appreciate and seek to elevate our Indigenous communities , the oldest storytellers on this land . We now appreciate our finite resources and acknowledge our responsibility to innovate the 24-hour economy , particularly around creating more environmentally sustainable precincts .
We also recognise our role in changing the focus of the NTE from a leisure-based economy to one that supports a myriad of night workers – some in the entertainment industries , and other in critical roles such as healthcare .
The resurgence of the night-time economy is fueled by the desire for human connection . As NSW Government delivers initiatives to bring people back together , we are driven by the idea that we are all coming back together to tell our stories . Stories of people and place .
A BIT OF BACKGROUND Gathering around the fire to tell stories is human nature . As campfires gave way to villages and town centres , we found new formats for this engagement – piazzas , speakers ’ corners , high streets and theatres . The number of high streets in England grew with the rapid increase in consumer expenditure from the 17th century , and reached a peak in Victorian Britain , spurred on by the Industrial Revolution .
Up until this point , the high street had a monopoly on the going-out experience ; there were limited options at home . In the Victorian era , dwelling size increased , and the piano appeared as a permanent fixture for parlour-room entertainment .
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