Can you imagine a Bogotá awake 24/7? The city is getting closer to this dream.
Bogota was recently a main player of an unprecedented event. Together with New York, it launched the 24-hour city network, a global alliance facilitated by Mastercard’s City Possible platform, which seeks to boost the economies of member cities during the day and at night.
What are the challenges facing 24-hour cities? Security, public transportation and nighttime commerce, among others, are the main challenges faced by cities that do not sleep. With the 24-hour cities network, Bogota and the other 35 member cities seek to share recommendations, experiences, lessons and good practices that strengthen the operation of 24/7 cities. Some of the cities that make up the network are: New York, London, Sydney, Mexico City, Tegucigalpa and Singapore.
This is a great opportunity for the cities in the network, since a city with 24-hour economic activity translates into an increase in productivity that boosts the economy and, in the long term, will generate enormous benefits for everyone.
The strategy in Bogota began with a pilot plan with more than 300 businesses, which generated a 35% increase in sales and the generation of 2.4 jobs per participating business. Commercial activations have been carried out in 11 localities through trade fairs and cultural and civic activations. The fairs have benefited more than 500 businessmen and entrepreneurs in the city’s 20 localities, contributing to the commercial activation of 5,009 businesses.
During the first night of the city’s Night of Museums, more than 45 thousand citizens were able to visit the more than 60 participating museums.
Bogota 24 Horas is committed to the integration of public and private services and to a vision of a permanent vocation. Three polygons have been intervened: San Felipe neighborhood, Calle 85 and Parque de la 93; all of these creative districts and orange development areas, which are spaces where culture, creativity and entrepreneurship converge, and function as areas of economic, social and cultural development, consolidating scenarios for urban renewal and employment generation.
