Case Study: AftrDark - a design intervention aimed at enhancing the experience for those who are active after dark

📖 Overview

Background

• As part of an industry-led project, our team (Louise, Evi, Chen, Karina, and I) collaborated with ARUP on their brief to create a more equitable transition for cities.
• When our research revealed that nocturnal people and shift workers are often overlooked in city planning, we decided to address their challenges and developed AftrDark — a phased intervention that reduces social isolation among night workers, while supporting the city’s long-term vision and strategy of a 24-hour city.

Solution

• The intervention includes creating an informed night map, offering various activities beyond the currently limited range of offerings, promote safer night travelling, and a better night ecosystem for shift workers.
• The early prototype that we designed is a digital platform that helps people access and create all the offerings of the nighttime in one place and strategic partnerships with key service providers.

🔎 Discovery

As a part of our project, we were prompted to think about cities as a service and enabling their just transitions.

We adapted to this brief, questioning if London serves everyone despite the hours — and investigating how London could evolve better into a more inclusive 24-hour city.

Identifying Our Audience and Their Challenges

This took us to look beyond the traditional definition of nightlife, to the people who are active after dark, from shift workers to all nocturnal individuals. Our research started with three questions:

• What do nocturnal workers need most from an urban environment?

• What barriers do these individuals face in terms of accessibility, logistics and community support?

• How could the nighttime infrastructure serve and support the quality of life for night workers?

We delved into research by conducting

• a night audit
• 1:1 interviews with experts
• interviews with nocturnal people and shift workers
• learning from key studies and policies around nighttime in London

to uncover needs specific to London’s nighttime.

This research revealed significant challenges which included a feeling of isolation from the city, safety concerns at night, and limited access to a healthier lifestyle.

Driving Change through Stakeholders

To support our broader vision, we identified key Stakeholders that would have a direct influence on changing the experience of the night for shift-workers and nocturnal individuals.

Developing nighttime initiatives typically requires high budgets or complex logistics, which aren’t feasible on a city-wide scale without broader policy support.