Cities are rethinking what happens after dark
United States | The night shift
Cities are rethinking what happens after dark
Making it easier to party is becoming serious public policy
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Photograph: Getty Images
Jul 14th 2026|BOSTON AND NEW YORK|4 min read
THE JOB OF nightlife czar may sound hedonistic. Then Corean Reynolds explains what it entails. Officially Boston’s director of the nightlife economy, Ms Reynolds can sometimes be found standing outside a bar at 2am, watching how staff manage crowds spilling into the street. When residents complain about noise, she may be nearby with a decibel meter, with a plan not to kill the buzz but measure it. “I’m like, hey, actually it didn’t seem that loud,” she says she tells them. Her task is, essentially, to help more people have fun without making nearby residents miserable. She is the first person to hold the job in Boston and one of a rising number of officials across the country tasked with livening up life after dark.
For decades city officials were interested mainly in enforcing strict rules, some dating to Prohibition, on pubs, music venues and dance halls. Now roughly a dozen American municipalities, from Iowa City to Philadelphia, have an official responsible for promoting the nightlife economy.
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