When the city stays awake: Field Notes from the Advanced Cooperation Mission in Braga

Braga, Portugal | 5–8 September 2026

What makes a city work after dark?

It is a question that goes far beyond nightlife. Culture, commerce, tourism, mobility, safety, public space and social life all shape what happens in a city once the working day ends — and how residents and visitors experience it.

This broader understanding of the night-time economy guided the Advanced Cooperation Mission in Braga, bringing together representatives from the city, Buenos Aires, Genoa and Salvador as part of the Community of Practice on Night-time Economy.

Across four days, the delegation experienced Braga at very different rhythms: from the crowds of its annual White Night Festival to cultural venues, tourism and business organisations, innovation hubs and heritage sites. The exchanges explored how cities can activate their night-time economies while balancing attractiveness and economic activity with accessibility, safety and quality of life.

The mission also provided space to strengthen cooperation between the participating cities — culminating in Buenos Aires and Salvador joining the Global Cities After Dark Network alongside Braga and Genoa.

Day 1 | When an entire city centre becomes a stage

The delegation arrived during Braga White Night, a three-day cultural and leisure initiative that transforms the historic centre through concerts, artistic installations, extended opening hours at cultural venues and activities across streets and squares. Residents and visitors are invited to wear white, while buildings and public spaces become part of the event itself. 

From Braga’s Tourism Office, the group observed the festival from above, gaining a sense of the scale of the event and how people, cultural activities and public spaces interacted across the historic centre.

On the streets, videomapping transformed the façades of seven emblematic buildings, around 300 drones created images above the city and live music — including a performance by Fado singer Ana Moura — brought different audiences together. One of the most visible characteristics of the night was its intergenerational nature: children, young people, adults and older residents all shared the same spaces and activities.

But activating a city centre at this scale also requires an infrastructure that is much less visible. At the temporary Command and Control Centre, the delegation saw how around 100 safety and security personnel coordinated operations until 6 a.m. Civil protection, firefighters, security forces and health services worked through shared protocols and a digital platform, with preventive measures including temporary street closures, evacuation routes and the identification of potentially vulnerable locations.

The first night therefore captured two sides of the night-time economy: creating reasons for people to stay in the city after dark also means creating the conditions for them to do so safely and accessibly.

Day 2 | Different places, different ways of experiencing the night

After experiencing Braga during one of its largest night-time events, the second day explored the cultural and spatial assets that shape the city’s identity throughout the year. At Theatro Circo, the delegation visited one of Braga’s main cultural institutions, a historic municipal theatre that today supports multidisciplinary programming, artistic creation and cultural participation.

The programme then moved to Bom Jesus do Monte, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, before continuing to Bô Zen Open Air Club, a seasonal nightlife venue located away from the city’s main residential concentrations.

The contrast offered another perspective on night-time planning. While Braga White Night temporarily concentrates thousands of people and activities in the historic centre, seasonal venues outside densely residential areas provide spaces for late-night leisure with a more limited impact on residents.

Day 3 | A night-time economy built throughout the day

The third day looked at the ecosystem that makes a lively city centre possible.

At Braga City Hall and the Tourism Office, discussions explored the relationship between tourism, culture and the night-time economy. Braga is restructuring its tourism offer around day, sunset and night-time experiences, while its Tourism Observatory uses data on visitor profiles, origins, movements and length of stay to support planning and improve the visitor experience.

The conversation continued with the Associação Empresarial de Braga, where the delegation explored how people’s relationship with the city centre is changing. Where shopping was once a primary reason to visit, people increasingly come to meet friends, walk and spend time in the centre, making commerce one element within a broader urban experience. Initiatives combining gastronomy, local products and commerce are helping create new reasons to spend time there and support local businesses.

At Gnration, a former National Republican Guard building transformed into a cultural and creative centre, the group encountered another piece of this ecosystem: contemporary music, digital arts, technology and cultural programming occupying a regenerated building in the heart of the city.

Taken together, the visits showed why the night-time economy cannot be planned exclusively at night. A city that remains active after dark is also shaped by the cultural institutions, businesses, visitor strategies and public spaces that sustain urban life throughout the day.

Day 4 | From local ecosystems to international cooperation

The final day broadened the conversation towards innovation, creativity and cooperation between cities. At Startup Braga and Human Power Hub, participants explored two complementary dimensions of the city’s innovation ecosystem. Startup Braga supports entrepreneurship and emerging businesses through incubation, acceleration and co-working, while Human Power Hub focuses on social innovation and projects seeking to generate social impact.

Culture provided another thread through the day. A visit to the Monastery of São Martinho de Tibães showed how heritage spaces can accommodate new cultural uses, while Braga Media Arts introduced the delegation to the city’s development as a UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts and the relationship it has built between technology, artistic creation and contemporary culture. These experiences reinforced a recurring lesson from the mission: the night-time economy intersects with a much wider urban ecosystem — from entrepreneurship and social innovation to heritage, technology and creative production.

The mission ended with a concrete step towards extending those exchanges beyond Braga. Buenos Aires and Salvador formally joined the Global Cities After Dark Network alongside Braga and Genoa, creating a new framework through which the cities can continue sharing experiences and developing cooperation around the night-time economy. Braga and Salvador also identified opportunities for further bilateral exchanges around culture, social projects and business relations.

After four days exploring the city from crowded squares and cultural venues to business associations and innovation hubs, one idea stood out: the night-time economy is not simply what happens when the sun goes down. It is an urban ecosystem — and making it thrive requires thinking about the city as a whole.

About the IURC LAC Advanced Cooperation Missions

IURC Latin America and the Caribbean, part of the International Urban and Regional Cooperation (IURC) programme, connects cities and regions from Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe to co-create sustainable, inclusive, and innovation-driven solutions. Through peer-to-peer exchange and partnerships, the programme contributes to improving citizens’ quality of life while strengthening global cooperation.

Advanced Cooperation Missions are on-site technical visits that build on the IURC programme’s collaborative and knowledge-sharing approach. They provide cities and regions with the opportunity to further develop the themes explored during the online meetings of the Communities of Practice, refine their cooperation action plans and gain first-hand experience of best practices implemented by the hosting city or region.