Cities never sleep – but who shapes their nights? For more than a decade, UCL’s Night-time Urbanists have challenged dominant stories of the ‘24-hour city’, making visible the workers, communities and cultures that keep London alive after dark.

Led by Professor Ben Campkin, Dr Alessio Kolioulis and Dr Lo Marshall, this transdisciplinary research sits across the Bartlett School of Architecture, the Bartlett Development Planning Unit and UCL Urban Laboratory. The team works with city authorities, grassroots organisations and other partners to shape policy, public and academic debates on cities after dark. Their projects bring the voices of night workers, LGBTQ+ communities and migrant populations into discussions that have historically overlooked them.

From healthcare staff finishing late shifts to LGBTQ+ venue owners resisting gentrification, from migrants creating cultural spaces to cleaners starting work at dawn, the research reveals the hidden social infrastructure that sustains our urban life. Using creative quantitative and experimental qualitative methodologies such as ‘long table’ conversations with night workers, this research integrates lived experience with other forms of evidence to inform planning decisions, legal frameworks and cultural policy that reflect the realities of those most affected by urban change.

Findings from various strands of this work have been incorporated into the London Plan, influencing the establishment of a new forum for LGBTQ+ venue owners, shaping the evidence base for the Mayor of London’s Nightlife Taskforce, and supporting the first use of a Section 106 (planning) agreement to re-provide an LGBTQ+ venue.

This is not just research about the night – it is actively reshaping how cities understand and govern after dark.

London Nightlife Taskforce

Data from this project shaped the Mayor of London's Nightlife Taskforce report, setting out 23 recommendations for the £21bn sector.

Explore the report

UCL study reveals night work risks

New research led by Urban Lab reveals pay inequality, health problems, safety concerns and lack of dignity among London's 1.3m night workers.

Find out more
Short Course: NightLab London

23–27 March 2026

Applications are now open for the first NightLab London, a five-day-long, practice-based course exploring how cities can plan, design and govern after dark. Combining lectures, real-world exercises and site visits, participants will engage with the challenges and opportunities of managing night-time economies, examining issues ranging from safety and inclusivity to measurement and sustainability.

Designed for professionals, night advocates and researchers new to the topic in urban policy, planning and governance, the NightLab offers practical tools to develop and implement night-time strategies through real-world case studies and collaborative work.

  • Academic coordination: Dr Alessio Kolioulis
  • In partnership with: Dr Andreina Seijas (Night Tank)

The NightLab is offered as part of the Bartlett Development Planning Unit’s summerLab programme, where you can find more information about the programme schedule, application process and participation fees.

2015 – ongoing

Project leads

Ben Campkin, Alessio Kolioulis and Lo Marshall

External partners

  • Greater London Authority
  • Didobi Limited
  • Leiden University
  • University of Limerick
  • Aarhus University
  • Leuphana University

Funding

Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA), European Union Horizon 2020, UCL Global Engagement Innovation Fund, The Bartlett School of Architecture

London Nightlife Taskforce Report

The London Nightlife Report presents the most comprehensive and up-to-date evidence base ever produced on the state, value and future of the capital’s night-time economy. Developed by the Nightlife Taskforce as an independent report, it sets out a strategic plan to protect, support and grow London’s vital night-time industries, which currently contribute an estimated £21 billion to the city’s economy. Drawing on evidence from nearly 3,000 Londoners, the report outlines 23 detailed recommendations across 10 key policy areas, addressing challenges ranging from governance and licensing to transport, workforce conditions and cultural infrastructure.

The economic analysis was led by Dr Alessio Kolioulis, alongside Bartlett alumna Allie Lester, and Professor Ben Campkin, contributing specialist expertise in night-time governance, nightlife venues and urban policy. Produced in partnership with VibeLab, The Autonomy Institute, and the Greater London Authority, the report calls for the establishment of an independent Nightlife Commission, supported by £300,000 in mayoral funding, the introduction of London-wide licensing standards, and improvements to nighttime transport provision. Building on the Data After Dark research project by Professor Campkin and Dr Kolioulis, which examined inequalities faced by London’s night workers, the report sets a clear agenda for shaping the future of London after dark.

Data After Dark - Voices of Nightworkers: Evidence from Lived Experience

In partnership with the Greater London Authority and Didobi Limited, this project investigates the lived experiences of London's night-time workers across key sectors such as logistics, healthcare, cleaning and hospitality. As part of the collaboration, the project gathers both qualitative and quantitative data to support evidence-based policy for inclusive night-time governance. This research strand uses innovative methodologies such as long tables to collect first-person testimonies from night-shift workers to inform urban and labour policy. It explores insecurity, health inequalities, invisibility and the social value of work conducted between 6pm and 6am.

NITE – Night Spaces: Migration, Culture and Integration

This transdisciplinary collaboration set out to understand how public spaces at night are dynamically produced, imagined, experienced and narrated by migrant communities across eight European cities in the Netherlands, Ireland, UK, Germany, Denmark and Portugal.

NITE (Night-spaces: Migration, Culture and IntegraTion in Europe) was a Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA) European Union Horizon 2020-funded Collaborative Research Project, across five institutions (Leiden University, University of Limmerick, Aarhus University, and Leuphana University). NITE entailed an ambitious programme of community co-designed cultural events and activities, and close engagement with policymakers, intending to positively influence policy approaches on night-time economies, helping to release the potential night spaces offer in creating more inclusive cities. The UCL team, led by Professor Ben Campkin, and with Dr Lo Marshall and Dr Alessio Kolioulis as Research Fellows, focused on how LGBTQ+ migrant communities have created public spaces at night in London.

LGBTQ+ Cultural Infrastructure in London

Since 2008, Professor Ben Campkin has led a programme of research and engagement around LGBTQ+ spaces and night-time venues. From 2015, Professor Campkin and Dr Lo Marshall have collaborated on projects on LGBTQ+ spaces, working with a variety of creative entrepreneurs, SMEs, the Mayor of London, the Night Czar and the GLA 24-Hour and Culture Teams. The data they produced during a study of LGBTQ+ venues, 2006-17 (Campkin and Marshall, 2017) was adopted and is now maintained by the GLA. 

This research directly influenced the Mayor of London Night Czar’s establishment of a London-wide LGBTQ+ Venues Forum, and the launch of an LGBTQ+ Venues Charter to improve communications between SMEs, policymakers and developers. The evidence generated was cited in the London Plan (2021), Cultural Infrastructure Plan, Culture and the Night-time Economy Supplementary Planning Guidance, and local area plans and decisions (e.g. Westminster, Tower Hamlets). The findings led to the first use of a Section 106 agreement to re-provide an LGBTQ+ venue, and the design of a professional toolkit by the Planning Out professional network.

Referenced in major planning contestations, the research has been cited in over 60 media features (BBC Radio 4, ITV News, The Economist, Vice, The Guardian).

Publications

  • Kolioulis, A., Reia, J. and Straw, W. (eds.). Routledge Handbook of the Night-time Economy. Forthcoming 2026.
  • Campkin, B. and Marshall, L. (forthcoming) Queer Scenes: Looking Behind and Beyond LGBTQ+ Dancefloors, in C. Rossi and N. (eds), Beyond the Dancefloor: Club Culture, Design, and Nightlife. 
  • Campkin, B. (2025). ‘Queer Spheres: Making and Un-making Worlds and Nations Through London’s LGBTQ+ Night Scenes’ in S. Brandellero, D. Pardue, L. Krakowska Rodrigues (eds.)  Urban Nightlife and Contested Spaces. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 53-74.
  • Campkin, B. (2024). Queer Infrastructures: LGBTQ+ Night-time Venues in Global London. Mediapolis: A Journal of Cities and Culture https://www.mediapolisjournal.com/issues/queer-infrastructure/
  • Kolioulis, A. Seijas, A. and Acuto, M. "Integrating night studies into climate science", Nature Climate Change (2024) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02117-9 
  • Campkin, B. (2023). Queer Premises: LGBTQ+ Venues in London Since the 1980s. London and New York: Bloomsbury.
  • Campkin, B. and L. Marshall (2023). ‘Fabulous Façades’ in Marko Jobst and Naomi Stead (eds.), Queering Architecture: Methods, Practices, Spaces, Pedagogies (London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2023), 120-140.
  • Campkin, B. ‘London Lesbian and Gay Centre’; ‘The Royal Vauxhall Tavern’; and ‘Aterro do Flamengo’ in A. Nathaniel Furman and J. Mardell (eds.), Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories (London: RIBA Publishing, 2022), 126-127; 150-151; 206-207.
  • Marshall, L. ‘Queer House Party’; ‘Club Kali’, in Nathaniel Furman and J. Mardell (eds.), Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories (London: RIBA Publishing, 2022), 92-93, 166-167
  • Kolioulis, A. (et al.) "Working Nights: municipal strategies for nocturnal workers". London: Autonomy, December 2021. Link.
  • Marshall, L. ‘LGBTQ+ spaces face a new threat from the pandemic – here’s how they can adapt’, The Conversation, 24 February 2021, Link
  • Campkin, B., & L. Marshall (2020). LGBTQ+ Spaces in Camden: 1986–Present, UCL Urban Laboratory.
  • Campkin, B. (2020). Queer Infrastructures: LGBTQ+ Networks and Urban Governance in Global London. In R. Ramos, S. Mowlabowcus (Eds.), Queer Sites in Global Contexts Technologies, Spaces, and Otherness. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Kolioulis, A (et al.) “The Future of Dancefloors: Building More Flexible, Open and Innovative Clubbing Experiences”. In M. Fichman, R. Foster, L. Leichsenring, M. Milan, D. Raiselis, A. Seijas, and J. Yuan. Global Night-Time Recovery Plan. VibeLab, 2020.
  • Kolioulis, A. “More day in the night? The gentrification of London’s night-time through clubbing”. Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana 14, 2(1) (2019): 209-220. https://doi.org/10.13128/bsgi.v1i2.536
  • Kolioulis, A. and Rietveld, H. “Detroit: Techno City” In Lashua, B., Spracklen, K., Wagg, S. (eds.) Sounds and the City Volume 2. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018
  • Campkin, B., & L. Marshall (2018). ‘London’s nocturnal queer geographies’. Soundings, Autumn (70), 82-96.
  • Campkin, B., Marshall, L. and Ross, R. (2018), Urban Pamphleteer #7: LGBTQ+ Night-time Spaces: Past, Present and Future, UCL Urban Laboratory
  • Campkin, B., & Marshall, L. (2017). LGBTQ+ Cultural Infrastructure in London: Night Venues, 2006-present. London: UCL Urban Laboratory.
  • Campkin, B. and L. Marshall (2017), LGBTQ+ Night Venues in London, 2006–2017. Dataset, acquired by the Greater London Authority.
  • Campkin, B., & Marshall, L. (2016). LGBTQI Nightlife in London. London: UCL Urban Laboratory.

Exhibitions

Selected material from Ben Campkin and Lo Marshall’s research on LGBTQ+ nightlife in London featured in:  

  • Scènes de Nuit, at Atelier de chronotopies urbaines, Université of Québec á Montréal, March 2024
  • Electronic: From Kraftwerk to The Chemical Brothers, The Design Museum, London, 2020
  • Queer Spaces: London, 1980s –Today, Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2 Apr – 2 August 2019

Curation 

  • Queer Night Scenes Salon, Museum of London, February 2018, curated by Ben Campkin and Lo Marshall 

Performance  

‘Fabulous Façades’, co-devised by Ben Campkin and Lo Marshall, performed at: 

  • Queer Night Scenes Salon, Museum of London, London, February 2018
  • Queer Fun: An Ivery Tower Vaudeville, Royal Vauxhall Tavern, London, June 2017
  • Queer Spaces: London, 1980s –Today – press launch, Whitechapel Gallery, London, August 2019

Alessio Kolioulis 

  • Researcher, VibeLab research for GLA Nightlife Taskforce (2025)
  • Head of Night-Time Research, Autonomy Institute (2022–2024)
  • Economist, VibeLab (2020–2024)
  • Member, The London Borough of Camden’s Evening & Night Time Economy Strategy Expert Advisory Group (2023)
  • Member, Making London a Living Wage City Steering Group (2022)

Ben Campkin 

  • Senior Consultant, VibeLab research for GLA Nightlife Taskforce (2025)
  • Lead Consultant, Tower Hamlets Mapping and Audit of LGBTQ+ Spaces, London Borough of Tower Hamlets (2025)
  • Senior Consultant, Inclusive Innovation Districts, London Borough of Camden (2025)
  • Expert witness, London Assembly Economy, Culture and Skills Committee’s investigation into the Evening and Night-Time Economy (2024)
  • Steering Committee, Arts Council England, providing oversight and peer review for Greater London Authority/ACE research on LGBTQ+ creatives’ experiences through Covid-19 (2021)

Lo Marshall  

  • Consultant, Tower Hamlets Mapping and Audit of LGBTQ+ Spaces, London Borough of Tower Hamlets (2025)
  • Consultant, The Pinnacle Guide (2022)
  • Consultant, ‘We all need the toilet: An all gender access toolkit’, Good Night Out Campaign and Galop (2021)
  • Named an Emerging Voice in Architecture, London Festival of Architecture and Design Museum (2020)

Delivery riders outside a restaurant
Alex Macfarlane, The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, 2024

UCL Urban Laboratory

UCL Urban Laboratory has been at the forefront of transdisciplinary research and consultancy on inclusive approaches to night-time urbanism.

Find out more

Urban Pamphleteer #7

This issue gathers perspectives, provocations and vignettes on London's LGBTQ+ night-time spaces: past, present and future.

Read it online