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How the digital shapes the night… and how the night shapes the digital

Luc Gwiazdzinski et Philippe Vidal

Guest eds.: Luc Gwiazdzinski and Philippe Vidal


Having long been relegated to the margins of urban thinking, the night has returned to the public, political and academic arena.

This cyclical and ephemeral space-time is often associated with mystery, insecurity or rest, and is now the subject of renewed attention due to its lower densities.

Having been colonised by daytime activities and reconfigured by new uses, the night has also been deeply transformed by the advent of digital technologies, which alter our biological and social rhythms, redefine cultural and leisure practices, and influence mobility, consumption patterns, social relations and representations of the nocturnal.

Social platforms, mobile applications, online games and surveillance devices are reshaping the ways in which we inhabit the night, as well as the activities, territories and economies that unfold within it.

Its impact is significant in our homes, organisations, and public spaces.

At the same time, the night constitutes a specific space-time in which the digital is developed, experimented with, and reinvented.

Nocturnal activities generate new forms of digital sociability, aesthetics, and commercial strategies, while also highlighting tensions between freedom and surveillance, innovation and fatigue, and immersion and isolation.

The night thus becomes a unique laboratory in which to observe the varied effects of digital technologies on society.

This special issue of Netcom, entitled 'How the Digital Shapes the Night... and How the Night Shapes the Digital', explores these complex interactions between digital technologies and the night.

It welcomes contributions from a range of disciplines, including geography, planning, urban studies, sociology, architecture, anthropology, arts, and information and communication sciences, among others, drawing on empirical, theoretical, or critical approaches.
The call is structured around two main dimensions:

1. How the digital shapes the night: reconfigurations, intensifications, surveillance


Nocturnal digital practices: Which activities are enabled or encouraged by digital tools at night, such as social networks, gaming, streaming and dating apps? What new forms of social interaction emerge?

Night-time economy and the digital: What role do e-commerce and service or delivery platforms play in extending commercial activities at night?

- Mobilities and logistics: How do digital technologies contribute to the fluidity of night-time mobility (e.g. ride-hailing, delivery, and on-demand transport)?

Digital games and leisure: What role do video games and online leisure activities play in nocturnal rhythms?

- Observation, quantification and surveillance: Which digital devices enable us to understand, measure or monitor the night? What are the methodological, political, or ethical implications?

Health, sleep and well-being: What effect do digital activities have on sleep/wake rhythms, mental health, stress levels and night-time fatigue? What impact does software designed to supposedly promote peaceful nights have?

Disparities and inequalities: Does digital technology contribute to new inequalities between individuals, groups, organisations or territories at night?

2. How the night shapes the digital: experimentations, re-appropriations, new uses


Cultures and Digital Imaginaries of the Night

How does the night inspire new forms of artistic expression, performance or digital creation? What role does the digital realm play in the nocturnal staging of public spaces?

Representations, Fictions and Narratives: What stories or images of the night are produced by and within digital devices? What emerging nocturnal digital narratives can be found in the media, in games or on social networks?

- Actors and governance: How do night-time networks of actors organise themselves through digital tools? What role does the digital sphere play in the emergence of new forms of night-time governance, such as night mayors, event management, security systems and lighting?

Urban spaces and nocturnal design: In what ways does the digital sphere influence the design of nocturnal public spaces, such as connected lighting, interactive furniture and smart signage?

Night-time events and the digital: How do digital technologies reconfigure the production, distribution or experience of night-time events such as festivals, concerts and gatherings?

Selected references


- Gwiazdzinski L. (2015), “La nuit urbaine : un espace-temps pour l'innovation et le développement durable”, Articulo, Journal of Urban Research, 11, pp. 1-15.
- Gwiazdzinski L. (2004), La ville 24h/24, La Tour d’Aigues, L’Aube.
- Hu W, Gwiazdzinski L., Wancoll W. (2017), “Les nuits de Shanghai. Première approche spatio-temporelle à partir des réseaux sociaux numériques”, Netcom and Communication Studies, 30, 3-4, pp. 5-12.
- Roberts, M., & Eldridge, A. (2012). Planning the Night-time City. Routledge.
- Shaw R. (2018), The Nocturnal City. London: Routledge.
- Straw, W. (2015), “The Urban Night”, in Darroch M. and Marchessault J. (eds.), Cartographies of Place: Navigating the Urban, Montréal, Québec, McGill Queens University Press, pp. 185-200/

-Vidal, P. (2017). La paradoxale intrusion du numérique dans la France des marges. Dans M. Candelier-Cabon et S. Gaudin La France des marges (p. 197-216). Presses universitaires de Rennes. 

Instructions for authors


Please send in the first instance a short abstract to lucmarcg@gmail.com and philippe.vidal@univ-st-etienne.fr, allowing us to evaluate the adequacy of the proposal with this call.

Full papers should be sent by e-mail as an attached file (.doc, .docx) to:
- Luc Gwiazdzinski (lucmarcg@gmail.com), Professor of Geography at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Toulouse (ENSAT) and member of the LRA Laboratory
- Philippe Vidal (philippe.vidal@univ-st-etienne.fr), Professor of Geography & Planning at the Université Jean Monnet de Saint-Étienne, UMR EVS 5600

Articles must include a title, abstract, the name of each contributor, their status, institutional affiliation, and e-mail and postal addresses.

Scientific articles and notes may be published in French and/or English.

Articles should not exceed 50,000 characters including references. Editorial guidelines are available at: https://journals.openedition.org/netcom/956

Schedule


- Deadline for abstracts: October 30, 2025
- Deadline for full papers: January 30, 2026
- Publication of the thematic issue: 2026

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