Brisbane council to embrace early morning culture with new dawn plan

The Brisbane City Council hopes to take advantage of residents' tendency to wake up early with the development of a new Dawn Plan, set to highlight early-morning economic opportunities.

To inform the plan, the council is encouraging locals to take part in a survey about their experiences in Brisbane between 4am and 7am.

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the responses would help improve park facilities, pathways and public transport options in the early hours.

"The reality is there's a thriving dawn economy at the moment," Cr Schrinner said.

"People are voting with their feet. They want to get up early, they want to get out and about, and they want to get active."

"The more we can find out about the reasons that people are up and about early, then the better we can respond as a city."

Analysis by University of Melbourne research fellow Dr Anna Edwards found Brisbane has one of the most active early-morning trading hours in Australia.

The research showed 13 per cent of Brisbane food and drink businesses are open between 5am and 6am, and by 8am, about half are serving customers.

Dr Edwards said it was "wonderful" to see the Brisbane City Council "drawing on this strength and building on it".

"I think that's a really fantastic first step that they are actually asking the community what they want to see from their early mornings,"

she said.

"We do a lot of planning of places by space, but we don't necessarily always think about timing.

"Things have shifted quite considerably over the last five to 10 years, and I think we need to be thinking about this, but mornings generally have been quite overlooked."

Blaine Swanborough co-owns a cafe in Mitchelton which opens at 6am, and said the community is often out and about by then.

“We really see a drop off in trade later in the mornings as it heats up, especially in summer,” Mr Swanborough said.

“We really try and make the most of it in the early morning.

“Our balance is with staff as well … but we try and find that line of providing what the community wants.”

Committee for Brisbane chief executive Jen Williams said the dawn economy plan was about playing to Brisbane's strengths.

"For a long time, Brisbane has shied away from acknowledging that it is an early-rising city," Ms Williams said.

"Whereas now, we can see with the global wellness movement and a focus on health, that people really do want to embrace the mornings.

"The dawn economy doesn't come at the expense of the night-time economy. It is really about building a 24-hour city."

The dawn economy survey will be open until midnight on November 22.