In Helsingborg and Luleå, existing lighting in winter is compared with LED lighting next winter.
Within the near future, a large proportion of outdoor lighting in our urban environments must be replaced. It is therefore important to find solutions that, from an ecologically and economically sustainable perspective, are as energy and cost effective as possible. At the same time, a socially sustainable perspective that satisfies the need of different groups for security and accessibility, must also be considered. We know from our earlier studies that the perception of artificial lighting is of key importance for how we judge the accessibility and security of urban environments during the dark part of the day. In this project, we are investigating the consequences of introducing LED lighting with regard to energy use and the residents' light perception, and its effect on perceived security and accessibility in estates of blocks of flats. In the investigation, a comparison is made between existing lighting and LED lighhting during the winter months in two housing estates: one in Helsingborg in the south and the other in Luleå in the north. In the first winter, residents are asked to judge the environmental perception of the existing lighting. During the summer months, LED lighting with wireless control systems will be installed. The following winter the residents will judge their environmental perception of the new lighting. The project is carried out by the Division of Environmental Psychology at the Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Lund Univeersity, in collaboration with the firms Fagerhult AB, Riksbyggen AB and LumenRadioAB. The project is financed by the Swedish Energy Authority.
Author
:
Maria Johansson
is Associate Professor, Environmental Psychology, Department of Architecture and Built Environment, Lund University