Abstract:  As cities navigate the challenges of commercial decline, suburbanisation, and demographic transition, night‐time urbanism has emerged as a critical yet underexplored dimension of sustainable urban regeneration. This article positions “night play” as both an analytical lens and a regenerative practice, foregrounding its potential to link cultural vitality, social inclusivity, and urban resilience. Two contrasting case studies are analysed: Tokyo’s Sangenjaya, a bottom‐up night‐time ecology of tiny alleys containing a network of small bars and eateries shaped by post‐war urban evolution, and Melbourne’s White Night festival, a top‐down, annual event attracting 500,000–700,000 visitors and generating a large urban economic impact. Through a mixed methodology of morphological analysis, embodied observation, discourse analysis, and urban policy review, the study compares emergent and curated forms of night‐time play, highlighting their differing logics, spatialities, and regenerative effects. Findings reveal that informal, embedded nocturnal economies facilitate sustained, small‐scale regeneration rooted in community and adaptive reuse, whereas planned, event‐led activations offer high‐visibility cultural and economic returns but risk temporal discontinuity and commodification of urban play. The research argues for hybrid approaches that combine the resilience of evolved nightscapes with the catalytic potential of curated events, positioning play as a tool for inclusive, culturally resonant, and sustainable urban futures.

Keywords:  bottom‐up practices; hybrid approaches; inclusivity; Melbourne; night‐time economy; play; sustainable urban regeneration; Tokyo; top‐down practices

Published:   19 January 2026

Issue:   Vol 11 (2026): Sustainable Urban Regeneration in Japan (In Progress)