Prof Elisabetta Ottoz (p), Prof Francesca Rota, Dr Lisa Sella, MissMaria Caligaris

In the last decades, several scholars and policymakers have focused on the opportunities and risks of the night economy. A vibrant night scene is vital to the urban economy, stimulating commercial activities, jobs, and investments. Moreover, it has proved to be a powerful lever of tourism, attractiveness, and regeneration. Nevertheless, the night economy is also a complex, contradictory phenomenon. Night-time recreational activities tend, in fact, to cluster in specific areas within the urban fabric, the so-called Movida neighborhoods, determining tensions with residents. These neighborhoods are thus extensively studied because of their contribution to the creative economy and the conflicts accompanying them in terms of alcohol abuse, foulness, vandalism, criminality, noise violations, and disturbance of public peace. Institutional, social, and cultural contributions represent the majority of the literature on the night economy. In contrast, little attention is paid to the supply side, its quantification in terms of local units, employees, and turnover and the dynamic analysis of its effects on the sectoral diversification of the local economy. The paper aims to fill this gap considering 10 italian cities, both big and medium sized. Using data from Istat database ASIA at years 2018 and 2023 the paper runs and economic analysis of how the night economy changed composition and dimension in the pre- and post-covid period, classifying the local units according to both the type of service they provide and their opening time.

Dr. Steven Bond-Smith (p), Dr. Hadi Arbabi, Dr Ming-Wei Hsu, Dr Philip McCann

We examine how the rise of remote and hybrid work reshapes the spatial structure, population distribution, and scaling of cities within an interconnected urban system. We embed the Alonso–Muth–Mills (AMM) model in a system of open cities where nationwide market-clearing determines reservation utility. The model is extended to allow households to optimize commuting frequency, balancing commuting costs against the opportunity costs of working remotely. This unified framework shows how changes in commuting behavior affect both the internal form of cities and the distribution of city sizes across the urban system. We characterize the system using AMM-based urban scaling laws, in which each quantity is proportional to central income through a tractable power-law elasticity. By changing the commuting technology, work from home alters the urban scaling exponent while preserving rank order, expanding cities above a system-wide commuting-distance threshold and casting urban shadows on cities below it. We illustrate the model’s predictions with initial evidence from the UK National Travel Survey.

Mr Lorenzo Maccarone (p), Professor Roberto Patuelli

Investments in public transport (PT) in cities are an effective measure to both decrease negative externalities of private transport and increase accessibility for different categories of citizens. However, inefficient planning could negatively affect the resilience of the network. Moreover, cities differ greatly in their urban structures. There is significant literature on the effects of urban form on different variables. Despite that, there are limited studies analysing its impact on transport network resilience. This study aims to fill this gap. To do that, I analyse three cities having different urban forms: a monocentric city, a polycentric city, and an “elongated” city, whose form stretches in length, and perform a resilience analysis of their transport network through the simulation of different disruption scenarios. This work considers both public transport (PT) and bike-sharing (BS) networks, since the latter could alleviate the impact of PT disruptions, improving its resilience. To select the cities, I use different indicators. For monocentric and polycentric cities, I adopt the Urban Centrality Index of Pereira et al. (2013). On the other hand, for elongated cities, I adopt the Shape Index of Medda et al. (1998). For each city, I measure resilience through a connectivity analysis of the transport network. The analysis considers both unweighted and weighted networks. For weighted networks, an Origin-Destination (OD) matrix, measuring flows, is required, although it is rarely available online. Otherwise, it needs to be simulated, using different methodologies. In this study I adopt the following two: the first one is to disaggregate aggregate mobility data available online and simulate individual behavior through agent-based models. The second one is to simulate OD data through G1ODGEN, a data generator developed by Rong et al. (2025) simulating networks using satellite images. To perform the resilience analysis, I follow the approach of Malandri et al. (2023) using their SmartHubs Resilience Tool. To build the PT network of each city, I use GTFS data. BS networks are simulated with different methods depending on their nature (free-floating vs. station-based). Network resilience is measured through indicators of efficiency, accessibility and centrality of each node. Results of this study will be useful for policymakers to understand how to plan mobility interventions in cities with different urban forms. This study will also help policymakers deal with the case of elongated cities, which cannot be fully integrated into the monocentric or polycentric framework.

Dr. Nino Javakhishvili-Larsen (p), Dr Toke Haunstrup Bach Christensen, Dr Bence Boje-Kovacs

Hybrid work has reshaped urban office landscapes in ways that challenge pre‑pandemic assumptions about how cities grow, organise, and absorb shocks. This paper examines how the structural anchoring of work‑from‑home (WFH) practices in Danish firms is transforming office demand and the spatial organisation of urban areas. Drawing on two nationwide firm surveys conducted in 2023 and 2024 and linked to administrative building and employment registers, the analysis traces the evolution from emergency WFH arrangements during lockdowns to the normalisation of hybrid work in the post‑pandemic recovery phase.
Contrary to expectations of widespread downsizing, survey responses suggest a more nuanced reconfiguration of office use. Most firms retain their pre‑pandemic office footprints, while WFH and hybrid work adopters are more likely to expand and repurpose space toward collaborative, social, and project‑oriented functions. These findings raise key questions: How does the institutionalisation of hybrid work alter demand for and use of office space? And how do these transformations vary across the urban hierarchy? To address these questions, the paper examines three interconnected dimensions: (1) whether firms retain, reduce, or expand their total office area; (2) how they reallocate space toward collaborative and relational activities; and (3) whether these adjustments differ across urban contexts, including large, medium‑sized cities, and small towns.
The study draws on two main sources of information to understand how new hybrid work practices shape office space demand. First, the two nationwide representative surveys capture how Danish firms managed the initial COVID‑19 lockdowns and how they have transitioned to permanent hybrid work models. Second, we use official administrative records from 2014 to 2023 to track firms’ office space use over the last decade, allowing us to distinguish pandemic‑induced changes from longer‑term trends. Third, geographical data are integrated to identify variations across the urban hierarchy by grouping workplaces and firm locations into urban size: large cities (over 100,000 inhabitants), medium cities, and small towns. Finally, we apply statistical models to assess whether a firm’s location or local industry-mix shapes its likelihood of expanding or repurposing office space. This allows us to determine whether the “reconfigured office” represents a national pattern or diverges across different urban settings.
This research contributes by analysing how office space use has evolved during and after the COVID‑19 pandemic using a unique combination of survey and register data. Beyond its scientific contribution, the study offers policy‑relevant insights into the potential need for reevaluating urban policies and spatial planning.

Dr. Miquel-Angel Garcia-Lopez (p), Hugo Carpena Barranco

This paper investigates the impact of mobility on pollution. To do so, we take advantage of the natural experiment provided by the
COVID-19 pandemic to assess the extent to which pollution levels can be reduced when mobility restrictions are implemented and technology remains unchanged. Thanks to the use of high-frequency data for Spain’s major cities, we also analyze the impacts during different subperiods of the pandemic (first wave, new normality, and other waves) as well as across different hours of the day. Overall, the results of these analyses can be interpreted as an approximation of the potential effects
of increasingly relevant phenomena in our lives, such as teleworking and e-commerce.