Publication: Safer Drinking Scenes. Alcohol, City and Nightlife.

Publication Safer Drinking Scenes Alcohol, City and Nightlife

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Safer Drinking Scenes Alcohol, City and Nightlife Foreword Michel Marcus - Executive Director of the French Forum for Urban Security Introduction

Chapter I - The phenomenon Characteristics, measures and issues Marie-Line Tovar - Responsible for general population surveys, French Observatory on Drugs and Addictions Binge drinking: Clinical aspects, consequences and care Dr Laurent Karila - Expert on addiction, Paul Brousse Hospital, Paris (France)

Chapter II - Safer public spaces and responsible drinking practices Safer public spaces: Initiatives by ten European cities Phil Hadfield – Researcher, University of Leeds (UK) Towards a culture of responsible alcohol consumption in Europe

Chapter III - Observations and recommendations from the SDS project partner cities Observations Recommendations

Conclusions and future prospects Elizabeth Johnston - Executive Director of the European Forum for Urban Security Safer Drinking Scenes. Alcohol, City and Nightlife. 2013. Paris. French Forum for Urban Security and European Forum for Urban Security, 93 pages. Bilingual edition English/French.

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Safer Drinking Scenes Alcohol, City and Nightlife Festive events set the tempo of any city. They bring life to the city and give it added value. Using the streets and public places to party is an integral part of our culture. However, at night, on the edge of these events or during spontaneous gatherings, the public space may become a meeting place for young people who often consume excessive quantities of alcohol. This type of consumption, and especially binge drinking1, entails a number of risks both in terms of public order and public health.

Local authorities are therefore faced with a series of questions. How can they reconcile the various uses of the city at night, between those who want to party, those who want to work and those who want to sleep? How can we manage and prevent health, personal and material impacts this phenomenon may have? How do we organise the responses and take all the stakeholders into account? To cope with excessive alcohol consumption, how can public spaces be made safer and how can we promote responsible drinking without sanitising the festivities?

Public peace as well as crime, health and social prevention seem at the heart of responses to these issues, but a number of paradoxes must be included. Our relationship with alcohol remains ambiguous: Despite its adverse effects, this drug is culturally accepted and deemed to foster conviviality. Partying has a legitimate function as a social glue, an initiation. But it implies the risk of excessive alcohol consumption by “ordinary” youths who, in this context, adopt risky behaviours.

Faced with these questions, local authorities have decided to work together by suggesting the “Safer Drinking Scenes” project, led by the French Forum for Urban Security (FFSU) and the European Forum for Urban Security (Efus). This project received co-funding from the European Union as part of the ISEC “Prevention and Fight against Crime” programme. Between January 2011 and June 2013, ten cities took part in this project: Antwerp (Belgium), Bordeaux (France), Brest (France), Kingston upon Thames (United Kingdom), Liege (Belgium),

1. Binge drinking: excessive alcohol consumption over a short period of time.

Nantes (France), La Rochelle (France), Reggio Emilia (Italy), Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Stuttgart (Germany). An expert panel consisting of Marie-Line Tovar, Responsible for general population surveys, French Observatory on Drugs and Addictions (Observatoire français des drogues et des toxicomanies) - OFDT (France), Dr Laurent Karila, Expert on addiction, Paul Brousse Hospital, Paris (France), Phil Hadfield, Researcher, University of Leeds (United Kingdom) and Laetitia Nolet, Belgian Forum for Prevention and Urban Security – FBPSU have contributed to this project, which was coordinated by Vanina Hallab at FFSU and Mark Burton-Page at Efus.

The results of this project are presented in the publication Safer Drinking Scenes. Alcohol, City and Nightlife. It describes the issues discussed during eight study visits organised throughout the project, and presents the views of experts, promising practices, as well as the findings and recommendations developed by all partner cities.

The purpose is to share the findings of the SDS project, to lay the foundations of a collective knowledge on these issues, and to guide local authorities in formulating and implementing their local policies on health, security and nightlife through a number of concrete practices and strategic recommendations.

More specifically, this publication analyses the phenomenon of massive alcohol consumption, the locations and public spaces concerned, the types of events, population and consumption, the issues and the clinical aspect, risk factors and consequences of binge drinking. The publication also focuses on two fundamental issues: How to reinforce security in the public space and how to promote responsible alcohol consumption.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The publication Safer Drinking Scenes. Alcohol, City and Nightlife is available in English and French, in PDF format, for members of the Efus/FFSU network at: www.ffsu.org and www.efus.eu If you wish to receive a hard copy, please fill out the attached form.

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Member cities can receive three copies of this publication free of charge.

If you are not a member and would like to order a copy, please send your request and include €8 postage per copy.

Please return to : By post : Forum Français pour la Sécurité Urbaine 10, rue des Montiboeufs 75020 Paris - France By email : ffsu@ffsu.org By fax : +33 1 40 64 49 10

Many other publications are also available on our web site www.efus.eu

This project has received funding from the European Union as part of the ISEC 2009 “Prevention and Fight Against Crime” programme. This publication only reflects the views of the authors, and the European Commission can­not be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Designed by Johann Leclercq Printed by Cloître Imprimeurs, Saint-Thonan (FR) - August 2013 Published by French Forum for Urban Security (FFSU) European Forum for Urban Security - Efus 10, rue des Montiboeufs 75020 Paris – FRANCE contact@efus.eu www.efus.eu