Night for Day

Dystopian frameworks portend the future. With climatic upheavals increasing, dystopia is now. Because of escalating urban heat and heat-related illness and death, this essay speculates a future that switches daily activities into the coolness of night. A utopian/Noctopian vision is posited with community-engaged design combined with technologically enabled, adaptive lighting. For example, in Noctopia, the library is open at midnight; luminous benches provide safe respite. Late-night closings thrive in midweek, especially along the transit corridor. A night market is open around the corner. Posters are up for a midnight concert at the local park, with provisions for audio headsets to coexist with the residential district. This manifesto posits a kind of revolutionary adaptation - a switch up of night for day. Here, we contemplate: Is it possible to transform negative impressions of darkness by designing optimistic spaces after sunset?