Abstract
Human needs and tendencies are driving forces for urbanisation. Urban developments demand natural resources to become a reality, and transformed landscapes expose species other than humans to ecological impacts. The integration of biodiversity-sensitive thinking in urban design has been overshadowed by human-focused urban technologies in after-dark urban landscapes. Being cost- and energy-efficient intelligent systems, the widespread use of LEDs in street lighting infrastructures interferes with wildlife species’ natural rhythms due to over-illumination in cities. On the other hand, light as an emergent and relational material formed within built and natural environments, is contextually bound. In the search for an alternative approach to traversing multispecies environments, reconsidering how lighting, the material dimension of architecture and human needs are interlinked can open up new ways to utilise potentials offered by contemporary lighting technologies. With this in mind, this paper aims to analyse and discuss what methodologically could be done to better interpret the interaction between spatiality and lighting and how they interact by examining patterns of human use in green areas. The research study in a semi-urban area in Uppsala, Sweden, is used to address these inquiries firstly by visual analysis of the recorded light conditions. These analyses are complemented with the gathered questionnaire data on residents’ views of their green area use patterns, urban wildlife and electric lighting. By doing so, qualitative interpretations from a real-world example can uncover and urge for alternative ways of cohabitation in after-dark environments through addressing interrelations between species and their environments.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Urban technologies, Lighting design, Built environment, Wildlife, Urban parks
