Challenges of Urban Public Space Light

While a well-lit surrounding can make you feel good and safe about being outdoors at night, a poorly lit one can certainly make you feel uncomfortable and even irritated at times.

Urban Lighting In Public Spaces Challenges

The challenges that can emerge when illuminating urban public spaces are quite complex. It is important to note that without determining the kind of problems, it becomes difficult to search for alternatives that can overcome the shortcomings of such lighting solutions.

Therefore, to seek a better public space whose illuminance can make the citizens feel secure and satisfied, here is a list of challenges faced by urban areas when it comes to lighting.

1) Extreme Exposure

Mostly ignored by people, this is one of the most important challenges that lighting in public spaces is connected with. If the exposure of the light or the brightness of the light is extreme, then it stops functioning as an illuminating object. Rather it begins to affect the citizens by throwing a glare which makes it hard to see things at night. Not only this, but over-illumination also alters the natural beauty of night by overpowering the light coming from the stars.

2) Disturbance

At times, public space light with extreme exposure are badly installed and project lighting in a direction where it is not intended. For instance, there are some street lights that illuminate people’s houses and roof too much which poses a disturbance to the residents. This kind of light is called spill light or light trespassing that hinders a person’s personal space by entering their property.

3) Waste of Energy and Resources

Conventional urban lighting is also a challenge that leads to wastage of energy and resources. Money also gets wasted in this process. Street lights that emit too much light not only disturb people but also lead to the loss of useful resources. In addition, there are some lights which illuminate the areas which do not need lighting at night.

The manual adjustment of conventional street lights also becomes a challenge. Many times, the municipal authority forgets to turn off the street lights, and they keep on emitting light even in daytime. All these increase the expenses of street lighting and also lead to the loss of energy and resources.

4) Impact on Environment

Though not known to many, but street lights do impact environment badly. Traditional street lights made from metal halide or high-pressure sodium produce harmful CO2 emission. These carbon footprints affect the surrounding and hence leads to the degradation of nature.

5) Light Pollution

Last but not the least, the biggest challenge is light pollution. All the above-discussed challenges together are a part of light pollution spread by traditional light solutions for public space. It harms the ecosystem and also poses health threats to the citizens who are exposed to it.

How to Overcome These Challenges

With the advent of smart lighting solutions such as LEDs, these challenges of urban public space light can be handled efficiently. For instance, LED street light manufacturers such as Wipro Lighting have introduced a combination of proper luminaires and lighting control devices that can be quite helpful in meeting the requirements of an effective urban lighting plan. Here are some ways in which LED street lights can eliminate such challenges:

• Customizes the illumination and optimizes visibility.
• Supports energy-efficiency and cost reduction.
• Lowers CO₂ emission and impact on environment.
• Minimizes light trespass.

Lighting in urban spaces is quite crucial, however keeping environment and our natural resources on stake is not a good step for any city’s development. Thus, it is time to adopt alternatives such as LED lights that have proved their worth in the world of efficient lighting solutions and make the best choice for a greener tomorrow. 🙂

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