Social Light for Urban Revitalization

by May 12, 2014Smart Cities

Susanne Seitinger

Susanne Seitinger is responsible for leading the research and strategy around the impact of programmable LED lighting elements to create safe, inviting and responsive urban environments. Her combined background in architecture, urban planning and human-computer interaction is comprised of research and design projects like the Digital Mile in Zaragoza, Spain and Urban Pixels, wireless LED pixels for ad-hoc media façades.


Who will you meet?

Cities are innovating, companies are pivoting, and start-ups are growing. Like you, every urban practitioner has a remarkable story of insight and challenge from the past year.

Meet these peers and discuss the future of cities in the new Meeting of the Minds Executive Cohort Program. Replace boring virtual summits with facilitated, online, small-group discussions where you can make real connections with extraordinary, like-minded people.


 

This blog post is a response to the Meeting of the Minds & Living Cities group blogging event which asks, “How could cities better connect all their residents to economic opportunity?”

Light is an ephemeral infrastructure that we often take for granted, but lighting consumes more than 20 percent of all electricity in the United States amounting to more than $60 billion per year in energy costs. Technologies such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are expanding the possibilities for new applications that are more energy efficient than previous systems and digitally programmable. As an obvious first step, many cities are in the midst of studying the potential benefits of introducing LED street lights. Groups like the Department of Energy’s Municipal Street Lighting Consortium are documenting this process and supporting knowledge sharing across communities.

As municipal officials deliberate over whether to move forward with new lighting solutions, they are not only weighing the benefits of cost-cutting and energy savings. They are also committed to building neighborhoods that support vibrant urban life and attract new economic activity. On the most basic level, these considerations are linked with the nature of lighting which impacts human beings on a deeply personal and individual level. More generally, shared values across a community influence how citizens approach questions of safety and thus access the resources of the city, especially public space at night.

In April 2011, an international group of lighting designers formed the Social Light Movement to bring the techniques of architectural lighting design to all communities. The founders include Sharon Stammers and Martin Lupton, partners in Light Collective, Erik Olsson and Jöran Linder of Olsson and Linder, Isabelle Corten, principal of Radiance 35, and Elettra Bordonaro, an architect and independent lighting designer. These creative practitioners – really in the tradition of Don Schön’s reflective practitioner – take on challenging social issues  byenacting new uses of public space facilitated through light. Coupled with community organizing activities or other participatory planning processes, the group addresses questions on topics ranging from public transportation routes at night and safe playgrounds, to general accessibility of public space in public housing developments.

During this last particularly harsh winter in the Northeast of the United States, for example, Elettra Bordonaro worked with a group of architecture students from the Rhode Island School of Design and the Providence Office of Planning and Development, and SWAP (Stop Wasting Abandoned Properties). The group selected  Grace Cemetery, a historic site that had fallen into disrepair. Within only a few weeks, the students, most of whom had no lighting background, created a lighting master plan. Probably on one of the coldest and iciest evenings in February, throngs of people came to the “SouthLight” event. The team had installed audiovisual equipment, LED lighting and architectural follies throughout the site. In the abandoned keeper’s lodge, films and other archival materials about the site and those buried there were on display. The temporary project was such a success that the team initiated a further grant application for future, more permanent installations.

Though lighting alone cannot revitalize a city or neighborhood, it is a vehicle that reconnects people with places to emphasize the true strengths of a community. In 1989, the city of Lyon, France, introduced one of the earliest holistic lighting master plans to revitalize the dense historic core of the city. Today, Lyon is known as the “capital of light,” hosting the largest festival dedicated solely to illumination, the Fête des lumières. Urban design for the 24-hour city is a challenging proposition, but is increasingly important with work schedules and other commitments keeping cities buzzing at all times. Planners and communities have to partner to facilitate access to safe and comfortable public spaces that work day and night.

This article is also available at Futureoflight.Philips.com

Discussion

Leave your comment below, or reply to others.

Please note that this comment section is for thoughtful, on-topic discussions. Admin approval is required for all comments. Your comment may be edited if it contains grammatical errors. Low effort, self-promotional, or impolite comments will be deleted.

1 Comment

  1. Great article. Here, in Memphis, we say “Previtalization is the new calculus.”

    Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Read more from MeetingoftheMinds.org

Spotlighting innovations in urban sustainability and connected technology

Middle-Mile Networks: The Middleman of Internet Connectivity

Middle-Mile Networks: The Middleman of Internet Connectivity

The development of public, open-access middle mile infrastructure can expand internet networks closer to unserved and underserved communities while offering equal opportunity for ISPs to link cost effectively to last mile infrastructure. This strategy would connect more Americans to high-speed internet while also driving down prices by increasing competition among local ISPs.

In addition to potentially helping narrow the digital divide, middle mile infrastructure would also provide backup options for networks if one connection pathway fails, and it would help support regional economic development by connecting businesses.

Wildfire Risk Reduction: Connecting the Dots

Wildfire Risk Reduction: Connecting the Dots

One of the most visceral manifestations of the combined problems of urbanization and climate change are the enormous wildfires that engulf areas of the American West. Fire behavior itself is now changing.  Over 120 years of well-intentioned fire suppression have created huge reserves of fuel which, when combined with warmer temperatures and drought-dried landscapes, create unstoppable fires that spread with extreme speed, jump fire-breaks, level entire towns, take lives and destroy hundreds of thousands of acres, even in landscapes that are conditioned to employ fire as part of their reproductive cycle.

ARISE-US recently held a very successful symposium, “Wildfire Risk Reduction – Connecting the Dots”  for wildfire stakeholders – insurers, US Forest Service, engineers, fire awareness NGOs and others – to discuss the issues and their possible solutions.  This article sets out some of the major points to emerge.

Innovating Our Way Out of Crisis

Innovating Our Way Out of Crisis

Whether deep freezes in Texas, wildfires in California, hurricanes along the Gulf Coast, or any other calamity, our innovations today will build the reliable, resilient, equitable, and prosperous grid tomorrow. Innovation, in short, combines the dream of what’s possible with the pragmatism of what’s practical. That’s the big-idea, hard-reality approach that helped transform Texas into the world’s energy powerhouse — from oil and gas to zero-emissions wind, sun, and, soon, geothermal.

It’s time to make the production and consumption of energy faster, smarter, cleaner, more resilient, and more efficient. Business leaders, political leaders, the energy sector, and savvy citizens have the power to put investment and practices in place that support a robust energy innovation ecosystem. So, saddle up.

The Future of Cities

Mayors, planners, futurists, technologists, executives and advocates — hundreds of urban thought leaders publish on Meeting of the Minds. Sign up to follow the future of cities.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Wait! Before You Leave —

Wait! Before You Leave —

Subscribe to receive updates on the Executive Cohort Program!

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Share This