Connexxa: Research and practice for women and queer people in the night-time.
The night belongs to everyone
Care practices - Transport - Public space - Culture
WHAT'S CONNEXXA?
Connexxa is a lab for the night-time.
Where research meets practice.
Community knowledge is the starting point.
We operate as flinta+ people who experience nightlife firsthand.
Connexxa exists to enable night spaces, services and policies that work for women and queer people too.
Our experience after dark is not an individual issue.
It's collective, systemic, and designable.
THESE ARE NOT EXCEPTIONAL STORIES
"I have never gone out alone at night - never thought I could. I only go where my friends are."
person, 20yo
"Every time I go to a night event, I bring loose clothes to wear when I walk in the street, a powerbank so my phone never dies, and I try to walk where the streets are lit."
person, 27yo
"I always share my location with a friend and text when I get home. We all do it for each other, because every day we have news about violence in the street against someone who could be any of us."
person, 36yo
ON GOING PROJECTS
NIGHTFLOWS
Care and mobility in the nightlife. A research project on FLINTA+ and queer experience in the night-time.
THE RESEARCH
Being FLINTA+ (female, lesbian, intersex, non-binary, trans, agender) or queer at night means navigating spaces that typically are not designed by and for us.
Moving through the night and participating in events: the hostility is continuous.The community has already responded, though.
Within the electronic music scene, they have built care and safety as a prerequisite: practices oriented toward full presence, belonging, and the right to enjoy the night without compromise.
NightFlows maps these practices.
What are they?
Who built them?
Do they extend beyond the event, into transport and public space?
The goal is to make this knowledge visible, documented, and replicable, towards the wellbeing of people at night.
THE OUTPUTS
- Open dataset under CC BY licence.
- Co-branded report with the Nighttime Foundation, October 2026.
THE PARTNER
In collaboration with the Nighttime Foundation, a leading voice in nighttime research through championing progressive approaches and a global platform for amplifying grassroots nightlife initiatives.
CARE TO JOIN?
If you build care into your events - awareness teams, consent practices, collective transport, safer spaces, and other - we want to document what you have built.Register to be interviewed HERE
NightFlows is OPEN FOR COLLABORATION with those working on nightlife&nighttime, data feminism, and feminist transport and mobility.
Schedule a conversation here.
MANIFESTO
A manifesto for a participated night
How do we move through the night?
What do we face and doing what?
These are not logistical questions.
They are questions of rights, of justice, and of design.
WE WORK TOWARD A NIGHT THAT IS SAFER, MORE ACCESSIBLE AND JUST FOR EVERYONE.
| We affirm that access to the night is a fundamental right: to culture, to the city, to sociality, to self-determination. We stand by the knowledge that women and queer people navigating the night carry, | We believe that care practices developed within nightlife communities deserve to be documented, recognised, and made replicable. We believe in building with, not for. |
The following have signed the manifesto (2024)
WHO IS IN THE BACKSTAGE
Mariaelena Busani
Independent researcher, educator, and designer for social justice.The journey started in 2022 and every choice since was deliberate: research, education, teaching, consulting, field practice, and European project work, each building experiences Connexxa needs.Trained as an architect for sustainability, she/they specialized in digital technologies for the public good, community engagement, and shared transportation research. Educator as a form of activism for the social responsibility of organizations.
FOLLOW THE JOURNEY
Connexxa writes about the night
research, field notes, reflections, OUTCOMES.
GET IN TOUCH
We are looking for:
funding opportunities
policy bodies
researchers
music events organisers and care practitioners
Woman and/or queer person willing to share their night-time stories
Schedule a conversation here
or write to us ⇩