Light as material/lighting as practice: urban lighting and energy

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Science Museum Group Journal
Light as material/lighting as practice: urban lighting and energy
Journa l IS SN nu mbe r: 2054-5770
Th i s a rti cle wa s wri tten by D on Sl a ter, Jo En twi stl e
01-10-2018 Cite a s 10.15180; 180906 Di scus si on
Li ght a s ma teri al /l i ghti ng a s p ra ctice : u rba n l ig hti ng a nd e ne rgy
Publi s he d i n S pri ng 2018, I ss ue 09
Arti cle D OI : http://dx.doi .org/10.15180/180906
Keywords
Light, l ighting, publ ic realm l i ghting, urba n des ign
Introduction
Light i s a mess y ma terial tha t spills, bleeds a nd i ntercha nges promi s cuous ly wi th adj a cent materi als a nd s paces , often
uncontr ol la bly a nd i n ways that constantl y esca pe pl anning and design. Arti ficial urban lighti ng, the foc us of our a ttenti on, i s
the by-product of ma ny other pra ctices , which i t refl ects and extends i nto a s oci al s pac e: public light may a rise from the
hea dlights of ca rs, peopl e swi tchi ng on domes tic li ghts, the glow of televi s i ons , or c i vi c i nfrastructural pr ovi s i on. W hereas
urba n lighti ng planning and regul ation a ttempts to forecast the energy c ons umpti on of public rea lm l ighting on a technical
ba sis (a nd both cities and ma nufa cturers attempt to impl ement new LED a nd digi tal control technol ogies on the ba si s of a
reduc ti ve technologi cal rationality), thi s articl e will us e materi a l from Configuri ng Light res earch on public rea lm l ighting to
argue that dec i phering energy cons umpti on really does require equal a ttenti on to the materia l p roperties of lig ht and the
interlinked p ractices through whi ch s oci al s pac es come to be li t.
Ou r argument a ddresses these connections between ma teriality a nd pra ctice. As a materi al , l ight ha s properties: it i s a s oci al
materi al we all confi gure in everyda y life a nd r ou ti ne practices . In our homes we use overhea d lights, lamps, possi bly cand l es ,
etc., whi l e l i ghting des igners ’ pra ctices dra w on many tools a nd techniques to light publ ic spa ces. However , the ma teriality of
light is often l ost becaus e li ght is qui te abs tract a nd, unl ess we are l ighting pr ofessional s , we often fa il to rec ogni se or
understand i ts materi a l ity, or simply not r efl ect on i t. Indeed, d es pite its per va si ve presence, li ght is pervers ely invisibl e: we
jus t fl i ck a s witc h.
Unders tandi ng ma teria l a nd s oci al l i ghting pr a ctices in a n urba n context i s compl i cated by two domi nant regi mes for acti ng on
light tha t tend to be spl it off. O n the one h a nd, l ight is routinel y trea ted as a purely tec hni cal ma tter, as an economi c a nd

environmental cos t that is s ubj ect to purel y materi al cal cul ation i n terms of mea s ura ble quanti ties of li ght at a s peci fi c cos t
per un i t. This a pproa ch i s enca psul ated i n the i dea of standards: s tand a rds schematise soc i a l practi ces and s paces into
conventi onal forms for whi ch mini mum l ighting l evels can be recommended (Bu s ch, 2 011). These s ta nda rds are then
introduc ed, unifor ml y, in myriad s ettings a s i f they were s cienti fic a nd uni vers al, often i gnori ng the many di fferent forms of
soci a l l ife i n whi ch they are i mplemented. Indeed, s ome of the bl a ndnes s of l ighting in many ci ty streets and public spa ces (ugl y
masts, too bri ght and fl at l ighting, for exampl es) comes down to thi s tendency to impos e a si ngle s ta nda rd o f l ighting on to
spa ces uniforml y, regardless of the va riations of s oci al l ife that mi ght actuall y chara cteri se these spa ces or s treets. For
exa mple, a pedestriani sed shopping street i n a city l ike Derby (s ee our s tud y, Entwi stl e et a l, 2015) does not have to be bl as ted
with light ra mped up to ‘motorwa y standard s ’ fr om i nhumanl y tall ma sts i n or der to ma ke the s pace s afe and secu re; it is
normally mo re effective to a ttend to the ways i n whi ch specifi c types of soc i a l actors use and i ntera ct in this s pac e a nd how
lighti ng can s upport thei r pr a ctices.
On the other ha nd, a nd conversely, especially in c i ty branding and place marketing practices withi n and wi thout munici pal
governanc e, l ight is routinel y and inc reasingly treated a s a n aestheti c ma tter. P l a ce-ma rketing stra tegies of thi s i lk tend to
reduc e the ma terial pr operties of light to s ensuous ima gery, ‘to-be-photogra phed’ spa ces for c ity brochures . As c ritiq ued by
Jul ier (2005) these i ma ges d i s play a familiar conc ern with a rchitectural form and ‘l a ndma rk bui ldi ngs’ found in many simi l a r
pl ace brandi ng ma terials. As Lee (2014) a rgues , dra wing on Ta ylor (1988), the emer gence of the s kyl i ne as a fa voured
perspec ti ve in nineteenth-c entury New Yor k ha s to do wi th how peopl e began to a pproa ch the city by ra il a nd r oad. Generally,
then, thi s i ma gery i s c oncerned with the ci ty from a distanc e, a photogen i c per s pecti ve, ‘as seen from Ma rina Bay’, or fr om a ny
of the high-ri se hotel s, condomi niums and o ffi ce towers skirti ng the c ity. This distinc t pers pecti ve is meant to be b oth
experi enced and photograph ed, a memora ble ‘ima ge of the city...’ (Lee, 2014 , p 147 ).
The potential of l i ght as ‘a ffective’ materi al cann ot be deni ed (Edensor , 2012 ; 2017) and is one reason why light festiva ls – s uch
as Glo w i n Eind ho ven, Fête des Lumières in Lyon a nd Viv id i n Si dney – are prol i fer a ti ng around the globe. Yet the problem here i s
tha t the ma terial pr operties of li ght are reduc ed to r epr es entations tha t sta nda rdi se the ci ty or place i denti ty, and are often
trea ted a s part of s pecta cul ar di spl ay ra ther than everyda y practic e: lighting i s onc e a gai n sepa rated from the actua l s oci al
practices of diverse peopl e who us e tha t place.
Thi s dua lity – light is either a tec hn i cal or a estheti c ma tter – di vorces li ghting and its energy cos ts fr om s oci al pra ctices .
Gener a l l y, lightin g i mmedi a tel y becomes an ec onomic a nd tec hn i cal equa ti on to be sol ved wi thin a func tionalist a nd
technocr a ti c fr a mework. This tendenc y is i ncr eas i ng wi th the technol ogica l s hift towards LED and ‘sma rt’ lighti ng s ys tems. For
exa mple, mun i cipa li ti es widel y ci te energy cos t sa vings of up to 85 per cent (eg, The Cl ima te Gr oup, 2012) to be a chi eved by
impl ementing LED s treetli ghting, proj ections tha t are ba sed mai nly on the cos t per l umen tec hni call y requi red to pr oduce the
same l i ght level s as older technol ogies. Thi s i gnores the actual s oci a l patterns of energy demand , s ome of whi ch are generated
by the tec hnology itself. There is a healthy, if a s yet unres olved, debate about the ‘rebou nd effect’, for exampl e, whereb y the very
cheapness of LED running cos ts l eads ci ti es to i nstall fa r more a nd far b righter l ights tha n requi red, thereby s qua ndering the
energy gains mad e on a purely tec hni cal ba si s (Tsao & W aide, 2 010; Jenkins et al , 2011 ; Sc hlei ch et a l, 2 014 ; Winther & W il hite,
2015) (s ee al so http://advances .s ciencema g.org/content/3/11/e170152 8). Li ghting des igners (in our researc h), a s oppos ed to
pl anners and engi neers , tend to be sceptical about gains over ol der tec hnologi es, parti cul arly s inc e thei r focus i s on the lowest
light level s needed to support s oci al pra ctices . Indeed, lightin g des i gners have a hos t of s trategies for lighti ng i n energy effi cient
and aestheti c wa ys tha t cut a cross the domi nant s chi sm by vi rtue of a n understanding of the s peci al ma teria l of l ight and what
it can do in s oci al s pac e. In other words , what we h a ve found i s that energy and economi c co s t i s a ctua ll y all too visibl e, even
obsessive, i n lighting pl a nni ng; wha t gets obs cur ed are the s oci a l i ss ues and the ways designers can des i gn wi th the s oci a l i n
mind. Our research woul d suggest tha t deba tes a bout energy tend to resul t in tech nocra tic ‘sol utions’ tha t mis s out the
funda mental poi nt of all ener gy us e and c ons umpti on: how it is pra cticed, s oc iall y embedded and used. Therefore, to unpa ck a l l
thi s we need to exami ne precisely wha t s ort of ma terial light is a nd a ls o what we mea n by ‘soc i a l practi ces’.
Fi rstly, l ight i s a relational ma teri al . W e do not perc ei ve light di rectl y but onl y in the wa ys it interacts wi th other materi al s a nd
surfa ces – by r efl ecting, c olouri ng, texturing, s hadowi ng and s o on. To even begi n to cal cul ate what l evel s of l ighting and energy
are d es i red, the des igner ha s to cons ider the workings and i nteractions of all the ma terial sur fa ces i n a s pa ce a s they a re
assembl ed through di vers e a nd overlapping practices .

Secondl y, li ght has a fl uid qua li ty tha t ma kes it di ffic ult to contro l , a nd which makes the very i dea of lighting d es i gn a nd
pl anning a bit of a fi ction. Lights spills a nd bleeds outs ide of its intended a rea, fl ooding adj a cent s paces , overlapping wi th
nei ghbour i ng designs and schemes . Li ght wreaks havoc with the i dea of a l i ghting ma s ter pl an, whi ch is easil y di sru pted by a
shop’s bri ght signage or a passing car, or other pl a nni ng deci s i ons taken, a s happened i n our study of the lighting masterpla n
of Derby ci ty centre. The s ame day the l ighting d es i gners delivered thei r ma s ter p l a n to the Coun cil they were tol d tha t the
Ma rketi ng Der by offi ce were about to i nstall hu ge LED s creens a l ong the ring ro a d around the c i ty centre whi ch would bl eed out
va s t l evels of l ight, undermi ning thei r careful l ighting pl an. Thi s bleedi ng pl ays a s i gnificant part in the ratcheting up of li ght
level s i n ci ties : a n over-lit area ca s ts a dja cent s pac es i nto c ompa rati ve da rknes s, ma kin g them feel too da rk a nd thu s ‘uns afe’,
and putting pres s ure to i ncreas e their l ighting in order to compete. In energy terms, this lighting ‘arms ra ce’ is clearly
unsus taina ble, as wel l a s detri mental to human and ani mal well -being.
Thi rdl y, the relational a nd fl uid qua li ti es of l ight are compounded by the fa ct tha t mos t l ighting ari ses a s a by-p roduct of s oci al
practices which a re not i ntended a s ‘design’ or ‘planning’: peopl e s witch on lights to do stuff in thei r homes , i ll umina ting the
street outs ide, whi le c a r hea dli ghts a nd s treet and sho p signage are pa rt and pa rcel of the mi x of pr i vate and publ ic s oci al
practices with l i ght tha t combi ne in myriad ways with the pr a ctices of councils a nd planners in their s treetlighti ng and s afety
regu l a ti on. More tha n simply disrupting pl a ns and designs , we’ve come to think of all this l i ghting as related i n an ‘i ndexica l’
way to the practices that gi ve ri se to them: the l i ghting tha t makes up a s cene a rises a s a by-product of practices whi ch i t
supports , whi l e a t the same time s tructuri ng the rel ationshi p between tha t pra ctice and adj acent ones .
Fou rthl y, if l ighting is relational, fl uid a nd i ndexica l, then i t is more li ke a temporal event tha n like a material s tructure, and
lighti ng designers use a l angua ge that i s often qui te theatri cal: l i ghting invol ves n a rra tive, p a thways , s cenes , trans i ti ons and s o
on. Lighti ng designers , a s oppos ed to, s ay, arc hitects , unders tand s pace a s emergent: a space i s l it i n terms of c ompl ex and
largely unc on trol l a ble relations between ma ny different materi a l s, s patial zones a nd s oci a l practi ces tha t rely on, a nd often
produc e, l ight. Des i gners genera ll y talk a bout ens uri ng tha t a s pac e ‘works’, tha t the lighti ng s hould make the spa ce na vigabl e,
legibl e, convi via l, s afe a nd s o on. Thi s a ls o tends to foc us attenti on s qua rely on wha t people are trying to do i n a s pace, a nd the
conflicti ng thi ngs they ma y be up to, a nd givi ng a ma terial or der or cul tura l form to the s pac e i n whi ch thos e pra ctices are
ca rri ed out.
Wha t does a l l this mea n for energy cons umpti on? I t is nota ble tha t every lighting d es i gner we’ve worked wi th ha s not onl y been
commi tted to i nsta ll i ng less lig ht and working wi th mor e darknes s but r outi nely c ha racter i s ed thei r rel ati on s hip with c l i ents as
a struggl e to ‘li ght less but more intel li gently’. W e take thi s to mea n tha t a l ower energy a pproa ch to publ ic l i ghtin g n eeds to
wor k not only through the s oci a l pra ctices it i s mean t to sus tai n, ra ther than hi di ng the soc i a l behi nd the techni cal or a esthetic ;
it must also wor k through a knowledge of the ma teri al proper ti es of l ight as they a re under s too d by des igners to s tructure a
soci a l s pac e. Lightin g des i gners have a t their di s pos a l a range of techni ques a nd s tra tegies that i nvol ve lower i ng the light
level s , l ighting stra tegically to ma rk out s oci al l y significant features in a spa ce (a tree, a statue, a nd s o on), to inc rease
legibi li ty a nd navi ga bility of that spa ce in ways that ma ke it feel s afer and more secure. Such l i ghting is designed for the s pac e,
muc h like a sta ge design, as oppos ed to a techni cally engi neered lighti ng s ol ution of whacking up a bri ght light, as i s s o often
the c a s e wh en publ ic lighting is merely engi neered. Contrast the two pi ctures of Mus eum Squa re in Derby (s ee Figur es 1 a nd 2).
The top image demonstrates the ‘mo tor wa y lighti ng’ di scus sed above, a la rge, br i ght overh ead mast blasting down bright light
and casting the s urrounding area s i n rel ative d a rkness, ma ki ng the spa ce illegi ble. The p i cture below is an image of the lighting
des igners Speirs+Ma j or’s public moc k-up for the city c ounc i l a nd public, showi ng how the s quare coul d be l it with the same
lux/l i ghtin g l evel but in a more even a nd s oci ally meani ngful way that pi cks out the fea tures i n the s pac e a nd therefore make i t
mor e l egible and navi ga ble: both l i ghting scenes i nvol ve the s ame energy cos t.

Figure 1
© James Newton/Spei rs+Ma jor
‘Motorway lighti ng’ at Speirs+Ma j or l ighting demons tration, Derby
DOI: http://dx .doi .or g/10.151 80/18 0906 /003

Figure 2
© James Newton/Spei rs+Ma jor
Di s tri buted and atmospheri c lighting at Speirs +Maj or l ighting demons tration, Derby
DOI: http://dx .doi .or g/10.151 80/18 0906 /004
Demons trating the s i gnificant proper ti es of l ight to vari ous publics (councillors, i nteres t groups , bus ines ses , resi den ts , ‘genera l
publ ic’) i s a n important wa y lighting des i gners communi cate thei r knowl edge to cl ients to s how the ma teria l properti es of l ight
in pub l i c s pace, evidencing ways to light di fferentl y and ‘more i ntelligentl y’ an d demons trating how l i ghting c an support
everyday pra ctices withi n a s oci al s pac e. Maki ng the spa ce ‘wor k’ better throu gh li ghting, for a ny reputabl e l ighting des igner,
wil l a lwa ys mean worki ng in an energy effici ent, or ‘ener gy sens ible’ wa y; worki ng wi th and thr ough very spec i fi c but compl ex
materi al properti es a nd s oci a l flows .
Designing lights in Colombia
To flesh out our a rgument, we draw on a recent research project i n Colomb i a , wh ere we col la borated with O ve Arup’s glo ba l
lighti ng group on a pilot res earch a nd l ighting ins tallation project in Carta gena, Colombi a c a l l ed Sma rt Everyday Nightti me
Des i gn.[1] The con cept was fi rstly that ‘nightti me design’ needs to be treated a s a speci fic design di scipl ine wi th its own
problems a nd s olutions . Sec ondly, the pr oject was pr emi sed on looki ng for s mal l s cale des ign i nterventi on s rather than big a nd
perva sive infr a s tructur e – s mal l designs that could be rol led out itera tivel y acr os s a neighbourhood. Thi rdl y, the designs set out
to promote communi ty enga gement, not onl y in cons ulta tion, but a ls o in allowi ng people to c ustomi se a nd choos e li ghting
va riations a nd then to mount them at a huma n scale. (See Vi deo 1 fo r a s hort fi lm doc umenta ry of the proj ect. See a l s o Arup,
2015; Arup global researc h, 20 16.)

Video 1
© PLANE— SI TE
Sma rt Everyday Ni ghttime Des ign i s a n interdi scipl inary research proj ect
spea rheaded by Arup, wi th Leni Schwendi nger and the support of the London School
of Economi cs, Universida d Jor ge Ta deo Lozano a nd Despa cio, i Guzzi ni, and Fi ndeter,
documented by PLANE—SITE
DOI: http://dx .doi .or g/10.151 80/18 0906 /010
A photograph of Pl aza Trini dad (see Fi gure 3), the main gathering spa ce in our particular nei ghbourhood, Gets emaní, illus trates
all the properti es of l i ght di scus sed above; relational, fl uid, i ndexica l a nd emergent over ti me an d through practices . The energy
us e li terally pul ses with the li fe of the i nh a bitants , recursivel y refl ecting it and s upporting it: the l it s cene i s a n ass emblage of a
va s t a rra y of i ntera cting lighting practi ces, i ncl udi ng muni cipa l ly-p rovided sodium l i ghts on extremely ta l l mas ts; commercial l y
provided restaurant l ights a nd s ignage; movi ng car lights from both pri vate ca rs and ta xis; br i ght neon from food a nd dri nk
stalls run on pira ted electricity; s hadows (prized a bove all by l overs, dr i nkers and crimina ls ) provided by broken lights, bl ind-
spots, phys ical barriers and dimmed ch urch lights after mass; and we c a n add myri ad little li ghts s uch a s upper storey
domestic wi ndows a nd l ots of little sma rtphones (including screens, fl ashes and torches). O n the one ha nd, one c an look a t thi s
pi cture as typi cal fa iled infr a s tructure in the Gl oba l South, a mes s of c a bles and cha os, unregu l a ted, un-des igned a nd
malfunctioni ng, wi th a ttendant waste of energy and other scarc e resourc es. On the other ha nd, what a l l our i ntervi ews s howed
was both a l ove of the res ulting a tmosphere (a l ove s har ed by otherwise di vers e and often conflicti ng s oc ial gr ou ps) a nd – a t
the s ame ti me – an a bil ity to read the cha otic output of a ll this lighting as a coherent a nd i nterpr eta ble pa ttern. As one
intervi ewee sa id, sitting in that scene, behi nd the umb rella on the ri ght: "We a l l know where to put o ur s elves ." Thus , r a ther than
look a t this scene a s ‘fa il ed’ and cha otic (a nd to be corr ected tech nically), we can see ins tead an i nforma ti ona l ecol ogy: the
lighti ng provi des a wea lth of information thr ough which materi a l s a nd pra ctices ca n interact and mutua ll y orient thems el ves.
Put otherwise, the main Arup desi gner, Leni Sc hwendinger (then Arup’s globa l urban lighti ng l ea d), when s he arr i ved here s imply
said, maybe we s houl dn’t design anythi ng, beca use “we could onl y screw thi s up”. Her rea ction acknowl edges that any design
intervention aimed at ener gy is s ues is a n engagement with a compl ex information s ystem tha t both emerges fr om and i n turn
supports compl ex ways of l i fe; and i t needs to be an enga gement wi th tha t ma terial-semi otic complexi ty r a ther than merel y the
techni cal (or aesthetic) portions of i t.

Figure 3
© Don Slater/Confi guring Light
Chaoti c l i ghting and s oci abi li ty in the Pl aza Trini dad , Gets emaní distri ct of
Ca rtagena , Col ombi a
DOI: http://dx .doi .or g/10.151 80/18 0906 /005
There i s no intrins ic reas on why the c haoti c l i ghting of Pl aza Trini dad s houl d be a ny more or l es s energy effi cient than some of
the high-tech a nd ‘designed’ l ighting sol utions that could be i mpos ed as pa rt of ur ba n moderni sation i n the Gl oba l South (see
Fi gure 4, d epi cting a s ta nda rdi sed ‘modern’ ma ll j ust around the corner fr om Plaza Trini dad). W hat ca n be a ss erted confi dentl y
is, fi rstly, that any real is tic assess ment of energy effi ciency i n a l i t s cene needs to take a ccount of all the pra ctices that gener a te
and demand lighting. The wider soc ial ‘cha os’ wil l not a nd i n fact shoul d not go awa y. Secondl y, that ther efore an i ntell igent
approach to l i ghting needs to look a t the informa ti ona l ec ology of the s oci al s pac e, the way i n which ma teri al proper ti es of
light and ongoing social pra ctices ca n interact in ways that support a soc i a l l ife i n energy effi cient wa ys. To go back to the
des igner’s respons e (and the eventua ll y propos ed lighting des i gn, discus s ed bel ow), thi s may require us to build on the ex i s ti ng
for ms of l i ghtin g p rovision, however c haoti c, rather tha n rel ying on purel y techni cal calcul ations of energy s a vi ng
(s tandardi sed infr a s tructur e model s s imply modifi ed to use l ow-energy LEDs ) an d ra ther than moving to a purely ‘a estheti c’
understanding of the s pace u nr el a ted to the s oci al l ife that genera tes i ts a tmos phere.

Figure 4
© Don Slater/Confi guring Light
Stand a rd s hoppi ng ma ll l ighting in Getsemaní
DOI: http://dx .doi .or g/10.151 80/18 0906 /006
Thi s l ogic o f worki ng wi th the i ndi genous i nfor ma tional ecol ogy (ra ther tha n simply r epl acing it wi th a ‘moderni sed’ lighti ng
infr a s tructure) i nfor med the des i gn a nd r es ea rch project. W e found tha t the ‘cha otic’ q ua li ties of l i ght were crucial to ways in
whi ch peop l e used their spa ces more generally. Above a l l , beca use light is relational, fl uid, i ndexi cal a nd emer gent, it does not

res pect c ommon boundari es between p ubl i c a nd priva te, muni cipa l a nd domestic energy u s e: public and pr i va te li ghting ha d to
be treated a s a n integr a ted sys tem, a s a si ngle and i ntegra l ecol ogy. Appr oa ches to energy cons umpti on that di vide i nto public
and pr i vate costs mi ss the wa ys in whi ch energy d ema nd i s a ss embled.
To give a n exa mple: the ori ginal pr oject brief for the Smart Everyday Ni ghttime Des ign programme was to produce l i ghting
interventions for s treet-corners a nd doors . These a s s umpti ons (largely dra wn from New York Ci ty wher e s ome of the designers
ca me from) was tha t these are cr uci al a nd repea ta ble urba n morphologi es that a re sui tabl e for pr omoti ng an atmos phere of
convivi al i ty, gathering, wel come, hospi tality a nd s o on. The problem wa s that Gets ema ní, as we d i s covered a fter the first few
hours of fi eldwork, had nei ther s treet corners nor door s that pl ayed a s ignifi cant role in the ways s oci a bil ity was perfo rmed.
Fi rstly, the nei ghbour ho od barel y ha d pa vements , a nd the meeting points of s treets were ra rely meetin g poi nts for people.
Ra ther , s oci a ble ga theri ng (outs i de of the main s qua re) wa s s pati al l y orga nised through the distri buti on of l ittle pool s of l ight
around doorwa ys , with people si tting on plastic chairs or the front steps of their hou s es (see Fi gure 5). Hence, d oors were
soci a l l y unimportant (and in any ca se they were mainl y open i f there wa s a nyone home) whi le doorways, on the other ha nd,
were utterly c ruci a l to ni ghtlife: the little pool s of l ight for s oci abl e gatheri ng were ma inly defined by l ight spi ll ing through the
grilles tha t covered the doorwa ys , li ght comi ng from interna l room l ights a nd fl ickering televi si on s . The bounda ry between
ins ide and outside was dra wn di fferently fr om up north, with peop l e s itting in thei r front rooms a s i f on the s treet, or si tting in
groups on the s treet l it by their front rooms.
Figure 5
© Don Slater/Confi guring Light
The dis tribution of lighting and soc i a bil ity on a residential s treet in Getsemaní
DOI: http://dx .doi .or g/10.151 80/18 0906 /007
Cruc i a l l y, the l ights a nd s hadows thr own by interior l ights were an integral part of the s treetlighti ng and i ts a tmosphere, a s well
as central to the i nforma ti on a l s ystem by which people spa tia l l y di stributed their sociabi li ty a nd by whi ch they na vigated the
streets and deci ded whi ch streets were s afe or wel comi ng (i t is al s o worth noting tha t Car ta gena, as Col ombi a i n gener a l , had
only gra dually been emerging from the deca des-long ‘Vi olencia’, an ever-present memor y of thes e s treets as i nci piently fatal).
Thi s mea nt tha t the rel ati ons hip between publ ic and pri vate, c i vic a nd domes tic energy us e was not j ust complica ted and

interdependent: public and pr i vate lightin g r ea l l y ha d to be treated a s one integrated s ystem, as a si ngle a nd i ntegra l ecol ogy.
Peopl e were clearl y conc erned a bo ut the distinc ti on between publ i c and pri vate energy c os ts: when we a s ked people about who
shoul d provide l ighting on thei r s treet, they ans wered that the counci l s hould be provi ding a nd payi ng of cours e, fol l owed b y
typi cal a nd enti rely j usti fied comp l a i nts about the qua l ity of munici pal pr ovi s i on, a s wel l a s detailed narra tives of pr ovi s i on
fail ures li ke broken l ights a nd power outa ges. Therefore, as s ome intervi ewees s ai d, as they ga thered in one of these pools of
light, we contri bute our own l ighting and pay for it bec a use other wi se we coul d not si t outs i de and people co ul d not use thi s
street. They then went on to a descri be how their own domes tic lights from their l iving room and the s urr ou ndi ng ones – c i vic
masts, car hea dli ghts, s hop signage a nd s o on – worked together to construct the ga theri ng scene that they enj oyed every ni ght,
and how the pl acement of thems elves and their cha i rs related to the over a l l a ss emblage of l ighting. Th ei r own discours e clearly
connects up ma teri al proper ti es of l ight and i ts c ost wi th the s oci al patterns of life they were tryi ng to sus tain.
The method ol ogy for this pr ogra mme was crucial. Fi rstly, the multidi scipl ina ry tea m included a soci al researc h team
compri si ng a s oci ologi st (Don Slater) and an anthropologi st (Lau ra Mendoza ) who were s upported for two 10 –14 day s tints of
intensive fieldwork, i n which we were abl e to inter vi ew an d observe a n extensive r a nge of s takehol ders , a nd ma p out the s oci al
practices of l oca l s pac es (pa rticu l a rly the Plaza Trini dad a nd s urr ou nd i ng residential s treets) i n co ns idera ble deta i l . Secondl y,
a team of s pati al a nal ysts based in a rchitecture and urban pl a nni ng were a ble to c a rry out a detai led spa tia l mapping. An d,
fina ll y, the l ighting des igners on the team were a ble to both raise soc i al a nd s patia l i ss ues, and to res pond to research find i ngs
in their own terms . This team a nd programme was, unus ually, s ustained across two yea rs allowing for extens ive di a l ogue, a nd
itera tion, between s oci a l, s patial and design thi nki ng. Ba sed on thi s kind of fi el dwor k and di al ogue, the Arup des igners sought
to a void ‘scr ewi ng it up ’ by worki ng wi th the relations hi p between this i nd i genous a s s emblage of l ighting provision, the
soci a bl e pra ctices of di vers e users and the night ti me atmos phere tha t wa s s o va l uable to di verse urban stakeholder s .
The design strategy that evolved from thi s researc h approa ch was to take up the wel l-l oved l antern form, whi ch i s a ss oci ated
with a ra nge of tra ditional s treet for ms but a ls o provides li ghting tha t i s huma n scaled, wa ll -mounted to relate to pers ona l
interacti ons , a nd producing pool ed lighting ra ther than uni form cover a ge. Mor eover, thes e l anter ns could be cus tomised by
res idents both in terms of col ours a nd patterns a nd i n terms of pos itioni ng. We piloted thes e la nterns thr ou gh a public
enga gement event i n one of Gets ema ní’s streets , as s hown i n Fi gures 6 and 7, below. The i nsta ll a ti on l ooks very di fferent from
typi cal l ighting master pl a nni ng exer cises a nd i nfra structur e demos mai nly beca use it i s s o da rk. But that da rkness clearl y
doesn’t a rise from either technica l energy s avi ng calculations or pl a ce-ma king a imed at a es theti c moodines s (a nd, i n fact, the
pi lot l anterns a ctua lly produced requi si te bri ghtnes s level s, meeting nor ma l s tandards ). I t came ou t of the stories that peopl e
tol d us about the rel a tionshi ps between the materi al pro per ti es of l ight and the for ms of ga theri ng tha t they valued. And i t wa s
very popul ar.

Figure 6
© Don Slater/Confi guring Light
A cus tomisabl e la ntern des ign for human-s caled lighti ng
DOI: http://dx .doi .or g/10.151 80/18 0906 /008

Figure 7
© Don Slater/Confi guring Light
Pi lot lighti ng i nstallation in Getsema ní ai mi ng to work with vernacul ar pa tterns of
soci a bi lity
DOI: http://dx .doi .or g/10.151 80/18 0906 /009
Com ponent D OI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15180/180906/001
Conclusion
Light, a s materi a l , is c ompl ex stuff which i s perhaps les s ea s i ly mani pula ted and des igned than other materi als, yet it is a l s o a
materi al r ou ti nel y sha ped a nd c onfi gured i n wa ys tha t blend a multitude of soc i a l pra ctices by l ighting profes si onals a nd by a ll
of us non-profes s i ona ls. There i s, i n fact, mor e overlap between publ ic a nd pri vate, profes si onal a nd non-profes s i ona l, when i t
comes to l i ght tha n one woul d expect. Discours es a roun d publ ic li ghting, especiall y conc erni ng hea dli ne-grabbing issues
around energy c onsumpti on, l ight poll uti on a nd s usta inabi l i ty, have a predictabl e pattern to them, r eferenc i ng the potenti a l of
technocr a ti c s oluti ons, new ‘s ma rt’ lighti ng, LED tec hnology, to ‘sol ve’ energy probl ems and ma nage us e and cons umpti on.
However, as we’ve di scus sed and i l l ustr a ted through our empi rica l examples, until the pa rticul a r qu a l i ti es of l ight as ma terial
are a cknowl edged, a nd l ighting is un ders tood a s emb edded withi n a wi der a nal ysi s of s oci al pra ctices , such top-down,
technocr a ti c s oluti ons a re uns a ti s fa ctory. They fail to understand the ways in which l ight behaves in spa ce and how its
unrulines s c a nnot be pl a nned awa y; they a re als o potenti a l l y da magi ng to the s oci a l li fe they seek to illumina te if they i mpos e a
set of universal s tandard s , generated fr om a l gori thmic protocol s , that di minis h or destroy the nocturna l l ife that ha ppens on
the s treet; plans ca n and do ‘s crew it up’.
In the soc i ologi cal pers pecti ve we’ve devel oped i n the Confi guri ng Light progr a mme, the a i m i s to return to the soc i a l world that
is bei ng l i t i n order to unders tand how lighti ng i s used, and how i t fac i l i tates pr a ctices , and o ur c oncern i s both wi th everyday,
non-profes si ona l users and the pra ctices of l ighting des i gners . Wha t we try to bring to the tabl e are s oc ial researc h metho ds
tha t a ttempt to capture the everyda y so cial pra ctices in spa ce to ens ure that l i ghting des igners unders tand a nd design for them.
Energy us e and c on s umpti on clearl y form pa rt of thi s overall picture but are not the s ole foc us of attention; by helpi ng

des igners to understanding soc i al s pace better, and by working wi th commu ni ties a nd s takehol ders to hel p them understand
light better, we a i m to pr omote a wider co nversation on l i ght a nd l ighting tha t ta kes energy use a nd c ons umpti on a s part a nd
pa rcel of materi a l s i n pr a ctice.
Com ponent D OI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15180/180906/002
Tags
Scienc e a nd s oci ety
Publ ic engagement
Twenty-fi rst centur y
Ma terial cul ture
Energy

Footnotes
1. We woul d like to a cknowl edge the support o f O ve Arup, a nd parti cul a rly of i ts urb a n light group l ed by Fl orenc e La m.
Leni Schwendi nger, then at Arup, ins tiga ted, envi si on ed and led the programme thro ughout, a bly s upported by a team
compri si ng And res Ra mirez, Christoph Gisel, Joana Mendo a nd Carl osfelipe Pa rdo, and wi th a ddi ti ona l s upport from
iGuzzini . Above all, ho wever, the fi eldwork was carr i ed out joi ntly by Don Sl ater and Laura Mendoza San dova l: we o we a
pa rtic ular debt to La ura ’s excepti on a l research s ki ll s a nd a nalyti cal crea tivi ty.
References
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Author information
Don Slater i s a n Assoc i a te Profes sor (Reader) i n Soci olo gy at the Lond on School of Economi cs, a nd c o-di rector of the
Confi guri ng Light/Sta gi ng the Soc i al researc h group. His current researc h foc us es on light and lighting as core elements of
urba n fabr i c, a nd a ims to fos ter di al ogue a nd c ollabora tion between s oci al researc h, lighti ng des ign a nd urba n pl anning,
pa rtic ularl y in pub l i c realm s pac e a nd i nfrastructure. Prior to thi s, he worked for ma ny yea rs on i nfor ma tion technol ogy, media
and di gita l cul ture i n development c ontexts, inc l udi ng South Asia, W es t Afr i ca a nd La tin Ameri ca, wi th proj ects for UNESCO and
DFI D (publ ications i ncl uded New Media, Development and Globa lizatio n, Poli ty Press, 201 3; an d The Internet: An Ethnographic
Ap proach, Berg, 200 1, wi th Dani el Miller). Other pu blica tions i ncl ude The Techno logical Economy (Routl edge, 2005, with An dr ew
Ba rry); Co nsumer Cultu re and Modernity (Pol i ty Press, 1998); a nd Market Society (Pol i ty Press , 2002 , wi th Fran Tonki s s )
Don Slater
Associate Professor (Re ade r) of Sociology
Contact t his author >
Jo Entwistle
Reader in Cultural and Creative Indust ries
Contact t his author >

Joa nne Entwistle i s Reader i n the Depa rtment of Cul ture, Medi a a nd Crea ti ve In dus tries, King’s Col l ege London. She i s co-founder
of the Configuri ng Light res earch group whi ch foc uses on s oci al research i n lighting des i gn for the urba n publ ic real m. Her
res earch i nteres ts a re also in the areas of fa s hion, dr es s a nd the body. Ma jor publications i nc lude The Fa shioned Bod y: fashio n,
dress and mo dern socia l th eory (Polity P ress, 200 0, 201 5) a nd The Aesthetic Economy of Fashio n: markets and value in cloth ing
and modelling (Berg, 2009). Her c o-edi ted books inc l ude Body Dressing (wi th Elizabeth W i l s on, Berg, 2 001 ) and Fashionin g
Models: Image, Ind ustry, Tex t (with El iza beth W i s singer, 2 012, Blooms bury)