Night-Time Economy
Safer, better-connected evening and night-time economies
Community engagement technology for town centres, city centres and destinations after dark
Creating a safe, welcoming and successful evening and night-time economy requires more than individual safety initiatives. It depends on local authorities, Business Improvement Districts, police, transport providers, venues, support organisations and communities working together and making sure that residents, workers and visitors can find and use the services being provided.
The imabi community engagement and safety platform helps local partnerships bring this activity together, communicate directly with the public and connect people with relevant local information, support and reporting routes.
Whether your area is developing its evening and night-time economy strategy, working towards Purple Flag accreditation or maintaining existing Purple Flag standards, imabi can provide a practical digital interface between your partnership and the people it serves.
Purple Flag is an international accreditation programme for towns and cities that demonstrate high standards in the management of their evening and night-time economy.
Managed by the Association of Town and City Management, Purple Flag recognises destinations working to create safe, vibrant and thriving places after dark.
What is Purple Flag?
Its framework considers five connected areas:
Policy and partnership
Wellbeing
Movement
Appeal
Place
This reflects the fact that a successful evening and night-time economy is not solely about reducing crime. It is also about transport, customer care, accessibility, inclusion, local identity, partnership working and providing a varied and welcoming experience.
Supporting the local work behind Purple Flag accreditation
The imabi platform can support many of the practical activities undertaken by local partnerships seeking to improve their evening and night-time economy and demonstrate continued progress.
This includes helping partners:
Make local safety and support initiatives easier to find
Communicate directly with residents, visitors and workers
Connect people with safe travel information and reporting routes
Promote a more diverse and inclusive evening offer
Gather feedback about people’s experiences
Coordinate selected information and resources across the partnership
Demonstrate how initiatives are being communicated and used
Bring local information together
Information about a town or city centre is often spread across council websites, transport operators, police pages, venue schemes, social media accounts and individual partner organisations.
The information may already exist, but people do not necessarily know where to find it, particularly when they are visiting an unfamiliar place or need help quickly.
A locally branded imabi Space can provide one clear starting point for relevant evening and night-time information while continuing to direct users to the existing services, websites and reporting systems operated by local partners.
Content could include:
Evening and night-time safety guidance
Local support and welfare services
Public transport and journey information
Taxi ranks and safe travel guidance
Emergency and non-emergency contacts
Venue safety schemes
Events and visitor information
Accessibility information
Local reporting routes
Seasonal campaigns and public updates
Map safety and support locations
Local safety initiatives are most useful when people know that they exist and can find them when they need them.
Verified locations can be displayed through the imabi platform, including:
Safe Spaces and Safe Havens
Welfare and medical facilities
Street Pastor or outreach locations
Taxi ranks
Transport hubs
Help points
Defibrillators and bleed-control kits
Venues participating in recognised safety initiatives
Other trusted local support locations
Users can view relevant information about a location and obtain directions through their phone’s native mapping application.
This can help turn local provision into something that is more visible and practically accessible to the public.
Communicate directly with the public
Local partnerships can use imabi to communicate timely and relevant information through:
Push notifications
Location-based alerts
Noticeboard updates
Public safety guides
Campaign content
Travel information
Event updates
Urgent local messaging
This could support activity around key weekends, major events, seasonal campaigns, transport disruption or emerging local concerns.
It also allows a partnership to communicate beyond its existing social media followers and organisational mailing lists.
Help people travel and move around safely
Safe and accessible movement is an important part of a successful evening and night-time economy.
imabi can provide a joined-up starting point for information such as:
Late-night public transport
Night buses and rail services
Taxi ranks and trusted taxi guidance
Transport disruption
Journey-sharing tools
Personal safety guidance
Reporting concerns experienced while travelling
Support for people unfamiliar with the area
The platform does not replace existing transport applications or operator information. It helps people find and navigate the most relevant sources from one accessible place.
Promote a varied and welcoming destination
A thriving evening economy should appeal to more than one audience.
An imabi Channel can help promote the wider local offer, including:
Hospitality and entertainment
Cultural events
Live music and performances
Food-led activities
Alcohol-free options
Family-friendly evening activities
Accessible and inclusive venues
Community events
Seasonal programmes
Locally distinctive destinations and experiences
This helps balance safety messaging with positive information about what the area has to offer.
Gather community insight
Recorded crime data does not tell the whole story about how people experience a place after dark.
People may change their behaviour, avoid particular locations or feel uncomfortable without making a formal report.
imabi can support ongoing engagement through:
Public surveys
Visitor feedback
Perception-of-safety questions
Consultation activity
Venue and employee feedback
Clearly signposted reporting routes
Campaign-specific engagement
This can help local partnerships hear from residents, visitors, students, employees, venue staff and other groups whose experiences may otherwise be missed.
Support partnership communication
Alongside public-facing content, an imabi Space can include private or restricted areas for authorised partners.
Depending on local requirements, these could be used to share:
Partnership updates
Guidance and toolkits
Training resources
Campaign materials
Key contacts
Meeting information
Action plans
Links to existing policies and documents
The platform does not replace existing systems, it just provides an additional way to make selected information easier for partners to access and use.
Understand engagement and demonstrate progress
Depending on the agreed platform configuration, local partners may be able to gather insight into how people are engaging with published information, campaigns and services.
This could help a partnership understand:
Which resources are being accessed
How people respond to local campaigns
Which support locations attract interest
What issues are being raised through surveys
Where additional communication may be required
How public-facing activity develops over time
These insights can form one part of the partnership’s wider evidence base and continuous improvement activity.
One platform, shaped around your place
Every town, city and destination has different priorities, partnerships and challenges.
An imabi Space can begin with a focused area, such as evening safety, welfare provision, transport or public engagement, and expand as the partnership develops.
It can also sit within a wider town or city centre geographical area covering community information, visitor services, events, local businesses, public consultations and other place-based priorities.
The objective is not to introduce another disconnected source of information. It is to make existing local activity easier for people to understand, access and use.
Speak to us about how the imabi community engagement and safety platform could support your town centre, city centre, BID or local evening and night-time economy partnership.