ABSTRACT
Lighting design is a rather young and hybrid discipline with roots in light engineering, architecture and artistic lighting. From a sociological perspective, lighting designers’ position appears boundary crossing as they contribute to the exploration of what has been described as an ‘epistemic wasteland’ – the experience of light in urban spaces – in at least three respects. First, lighting designers highlight qualitative design criteria that go beyond functional necessities. This includes the reinterpretation of established lighting standards in site-specific ways. Second, lighting designers seem in a privileged position for integrating light-related knowledge from different disciplines into their professional practice. Most notably, they respond to the increasing evidence on the negative side effects of artificial light at night. Third, lighting designers use participatory design methods for understanding the sociocultural effects of light in spaces. These methods are suited to questioning taken-for-granted approaches and exploring innovative illuminations. Taken together, the ethnographic observations presented in this chapter suggest that lighting designers can promote more sustainable lighting by proposing and introducing innovative approaches to illuminating urban spaces and shaping the image of nocturnal cities.
