Call for papers for ICNS.LX7: Horizons, Dimensions and Atmospheres. Explore nightlife, urban night, and global night studies. Submit by May 30, 2026.
Author Archives: vanhoben
Live music, urban transformation and cultural resistance in Lisbon
How live music in Lisbon reflects tensions between touristification, gentrification, and cultural resistance in the contemporary city.
Gentrification and Touristification in Madrid
A new study on Madrid reveals how the interplay between gentrification and touristification is reshaping central neighbourhoods like Lavapiés and pushing vulnerable populations toward the urban periphery.
Light festivals in Portugal: from urban experimentation to cultural strategy
How light festivals in Portugal evolved into tools of urban policy, tourism, and nightlife transformation. A sociological analysis.
Light Festivals and Night-Time Experience in Cities
Why do people attend light festivals? A sociological analysis of night-time experience, emotions, and urban life through the Lumina festival.
15-Minute City and Nightlife Decline in Barcelona
How the 15-minute city model is linked to the decline of nightlife in Barcelona. New research on urban planning, policy, and night studies.
“Out of Balance” at Staro Riga 2025
OUT OF BALANCE – Staro RīgaDownload Out of Balance, the light installation by Silviu Ciora that I curated for Staro Riga 2025, was presented at Miera Street 20/22 and explored the fragile balance between humans and the natural world. The installation featured two large illuminated metal sculptures whose scale and precision encouraged viewers to pause and reconsider human–non-human interdependencies. ThroughContinueContinue reading ““Out of Balance” at Staro Riga 2025”
The Palgrave Handbook on Nocturnal Cities (to be published in mid-2027).
Editors: Dr Jordi Nofre (NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal) and Dr Manuel García‑Ruiz (ISCTE/Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal) 1. Introduction & Theoretical Framing The city at night has long evaded the analytical centrality granted to its daytime counterpart. Despite the profound transformations that unfold after dark— e.g., social, spatial, economic, cultural, environmental and affective, among others—the nocturnal dimension of urban life remains curiouslyContinueContinue reading “The Palgrave Handbook on Nocturnal Cities (to be published in mid-2027).”
Tourist nightlife and the colonization of the urban night in Lisbon
A critical analysis of tourist nightlife in Lisbon and how tourism is reshaping the urban night through power, gender, and governance dynamics.
New Special Issue – After Dark: Atmospheres, Temporalities, and Embodied Practices of Nighttime Tourism
“After Dark: Atmospheres, Temporalities, and Embodied Practices of Nighttime Tourism” in Tourism Geographies. Explore light festivals, queer nightlife, stargazing, affective atmospheres, and nighttime urbanism. Abstracts due November 15, 2025.
Manuel Garcia-Ruiz 