Urban lighting

A renovated interest about light in the city has grown in the last years. This is due to a change in life style and way of living public spaces during the night. In many different subjects related to the city, as industrial design, sociology, environmental psychology,..., the main object of the question linked to public spaces concerns the user. This doesn’t happen to urban lighting even if it would be necessary to think light mainly as an instrument for city users.

The research program is meant to contribute to:

• define a new design approach based on centrality of users and on the notion of "environment"; a methodology based on a multidisciplinary approach that overcomes the concept of "punctual lighting of punctual places" and takes into account the urban context, its communication and esthetical enhancing and the user needs and activities;
• provide guidelines for urban lighting with particular attention to technical solutions aimed at reducing energy consumption and lighting pollution;
• define of approaches for public lighting systems energy certification.