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Nightlife and Sociability
Hospitality Zone Economic Activity
Assessment
As more cities and towns manage sociability as
an economic engine, enhancing nightlife and the sociable economy
with more dining, entertainment venues, challenges emerge as
public safety and quality of life impacts tap ever decreasing
city resources.
Demographic and lifestyle trends are redefining
downtown activity and business mix. Cities are determining how
to best reallocate resources to better manage active nightlife
districts. RHI is beginning a study to develop protocol for data
collection and analysis to provide local tools and comparative
study with other cities. The primary objectives include:
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Define and develop measurement protocols and
demonstration assessments of nightlife and the sociability
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Document the economic activity ssociated with dining, social, entertainment and
event venues.
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Evaluate impacts of various planning and
management systems in hospitality zones.
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Establish a centralized clearinghouse of
data for comparative study of nightlife and the sociability.
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Provide an annual forum for information and
strategy exchange.
This project will evolve in eight phases over
three years:
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Study Task Force:
RHI board members and other interested people will
participate in a task force to define the sociable economy,
identify data points associated with RHI's
six core elements for hospitality zone development, and
create a beta study to be conducted in the DC metro area and
as part of RHI services in select cities.
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Beta Testing: Launch a beta test in
hospitality zones in the DC U Street area, Wheaton and
Clarendon
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City Pilot Studies: Adapting RHI’s
Hospitality Zone Assessment, participating cities will serve
as pilot study sites to test the protocol on measuring
economic activity of nightlife and sociability.
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Networking Conference: The 2012 RHI
Sociable City Networking Conference in
Washington,
DC will
showcase best practices and early results of preliminary
economic activity assessment.
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Technical Assistance: RHI will
establish a clearinghouse of study experts to assist cities
in conducting the study, assuring capacity and consistency
for on-going comparative studies.
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Clearinghouse: Establish an on-line
updatable database where collaborating partners can upload
data and utilize data from other studies for comparative
analysis.
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