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Logan Night Time Economy Strategy

GOAL
Logan City Council (QLD) engaged JOC Consulting to prepare its inaugural Night Time Economy Strategy. As a growth area located between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, made up of a culturally diverse community, Council’s goal was to develop a Late-Night Economy Strategy for the four major centres within its LGA. The strategy aims to advance Logan’s social and cultural offering to support its significant population growth and leverage recent infrastructure investment.

SOLUTION
Creating a thriving and desirable place requires a multifaceted approach. For Logan, this meant connecting social, cultural, and economic aspirations through the following methodology:

  • Research on the economic landscape and community
  • Spatial analysis of the city’s growth and night-time potential
  • Insights from community engagement (including a survey with over 500 responses)
  • Insights from stakeholder engagement with local businesses and Council leaders
  • Best practice case studies from around the world
  • Utilising a ‘Neon Grid’ concept to explore when each centre turned “on and off” during the night
  • Developing a strategic framework, focus areas and ideas for supporting pilot programs

Recognising the geographic spread of each centre across the LGA, JOC Consulting utilised the ‘Neon Grid’ concept to explore when each centre turned “on and off” during the night. This allowed for a place-based approach addressed the economic, place and social / cultural desires of Council, and helped identify current and future place personas for each centre.

In-house analysis and research was informed by a thorough review of existing policy, economic and demographic data, and the use of a ‘Geoscrape’ on existing businesses to spatially map out the current Night Time Economy of the LGA. Research was combined with a series of stakeholder and community workshops to identify future aspirations and community capacity.

OUTCOME
This strategy contributed to the holistic improvement of Logan’s key strategic centres through a variety of planning and program levers, that built on the unique strengths and personas of each centre. This includes exploring opportunities to diversify local economic offerings, create safe public spaces, and enable lively centres.

The strategy is already being used to develop several pilot projects, from food festivals to movie nights, that build on community ideas and seek to activate the centres identified in the strategy.

The strategy was promoted in a December 2022 article in InQueensland, outlining the opportunities within the Night Time Economy Strategy. The piece featured statements from Logan City Council Councillors, with positive sentiments.

“Economic Development Chair, Councillor Jon Raven, is excited about creating new evening dining and entertainment options, while ensuring residents’ safety. “There are many opportunities to improve our night-time offerings for local families, who should be able to enjoy themselves without having to drive to Brisbane, Ipswich or the Gold Coast,” Cr Raven said.”

“Division 10 Councillor and Deputy Economic Development Chair, Miriam Stemp said the strategy was a priority for locals. “The development of a night time economy has been a common theme from our residents in giving feedback at city centre summits undertaken by Council,” Cr Stemp said.“

A multifaceted approach

Creating a thriving and desirable place requires a multifaceted approach. For Logan, this meant connecting social, cultural, and economic aspirations through the following methodology:

  • Economic approach
    Utilising custom mapping software solutions to ‘Geoscrape’ to spatially map out business activity, combined with spending data contributing to the Night Time Economy.
  • Cultural Approach
    Recognising the inherent value in local talent and existing initiatives JOC investigated ways of placing the experience-based sector (people) at the centre of Night Time Economy offerings rather than conventional products.
  • Place-based Approach
    Both internal and external stakeholder engagement was undertaken to understanding the foundations of the existing night-time economy enabling JOC to develop targeted actions to create lively and vibrant centres.

Scan the QR code to view and download the Logan Night Time Economy Strategy

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