With Carmen Zapata appointed to the newly created post of Night Commissioner, a new model of night-time city governance gets under way to facilitate dialogue between the different stakeholders involved in life in the city at night: members of the public, representatives from the restaurant sector, night-time commerce and leisure, culture, young people’s associations, safety and prevention services etc.
Over fifty cities around the world already have night-time governance systems, but Barcelona is the first city in the Spanish state to adopt this model.
Carmen Zapata, the new Barcelona Night Commissioner, will coordinate and execute the Action Plan approved by the Citizens’ Group for a Civil and Safe Night; design and execute the night-time strategy to respond to the needs of the public, and identify the need to adapt public policies and regulations linked to life in the city at night.
As part of this new system of night-time governance, the Barcelona Night Council is also being launched as a body for citizen participation and dialogue, and the Standing Committee of the Night Council as an executive body.
The launch of a night governance body is one of the measures agreed on in the Action Plan from the Citizens’ Group for a Civil and Safe Night, launched in the final quarter of 2021 to comprehensively address activity in the city at night and made up of 80 stakeholders.
These include organisations from different areas of Barcelona City Council, headed by the Area for Security, Prevention and Coexistence; representatives from political groups in the municipal corporation, from the Catalan Ministry of the Interior and the Mossos d’Esquadra police corps, citizen organisations and residents’ associations, members of different guilds and federations for commerce, restaurants and nightlife.