SYDNEY SWEET SYRUP

SYDNEY / AUSTRALIA : The streets are no longer busy at all hours.

There are fewer places to dance or hear live music, but also fewer scenes of public drunkenness and,  and violence.

Is this what Sydney, once heralded for its carefree hedonism, wants to be?

Nearly after years after state legislation restricted the hours of alcohol service across the heart of  Australia's largest city, Sydney is again struggling over rules, risk, fun and freedom.

Supporters argue that the laws, which generally restrict access to bars and clubs after 1:30 am, have reduced assaults. Opponents counter that they have just pushed trouble to new places while draining the city's heart of creativity.

At the core of the argument - which will intensify when lawmakers in the state of New South Wales  begin considering a repeal - is whether Sydney can truly be a great city without a 24-hour culture., when curfews cut nights short or push the adventurous to a politically connected casino.

''People want a city that they feel like they have agency over,'' said Tyson Koh, a spokesman for   Keep Sydney Open, an advocacy group pushing to repeal the so-called  lock-out laws

''We've lost confidence as a city,'' he added.

''If a city is only good during the day, then it's really half a city, isn't it?''

Many of the world's cities manage late-night indulgence more than restrict it. New York, like Amsterdam before it, now has a night life mayor  to work out after-hours conflicts.

Hong Kong restricts vehicular access to Lan Kwai Fong, its legendary nightspot.

But in Sydney, less restrictive rules have been elusive. This is partly because the laws' origins are rooted in Tragedy :

On New Year's Eve in 2013, Daniel Christie, 18 was celebrating in the Kings Cross neighborhood, then Sydney's red light district, when a drunken stranger knocked him to the ground with a single blow that later killed him.

The honor and serving of the latest Operational Research on Great Cities continues. The World Students Society thanks authors and researchers Isabella Kwai and Besha Rodell.