Urban lighting

Chapter 1

The history of street lighting

We speak with Sandy Isenstadt, a professor of modern architecture at the University of Delaware and the author of ‘Electric Light: An Architectural History’, to help us to look at light as a building material in itself and the spaces that light has created in our cities.

Chapter 2

Nighttime design

The night accounts for half of our days, yet most cities fail to implement plans or infrastructure to make better use of the nighttime at all. Leni Schwendinger is an urban lighting and nighttime designer who has been focusing on what happens after the sun sets and how to use the city’s darkened hours better.

Chapter 3

Lighting informal settlements

In informal settlements, lights play an important role – not only in terms of safety but also when it comes to providing a better quality of life. Stephanie Briers is from ETH Zürich’s Institute of Science, Technology and Policy, and has been working in South Africa on a project to test lighting solutions in the informal settlement of Khayelitsha.