Humanising suburbs with light - Cariboni Group
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31 October 2019

Humanising suburbs with light

The mission of architecture to regenerate suburbs also includes public lighting choices.
Humanising suburbs with light

We are used to the negative connotations of a suburb, associating it more or less automatically with the idea of degradation. And yet the major challenges for the future start here.

For example, the renowned architect Renzo Piano considers suburb regeneration to be the mission of this century's architecture: “I defend the suburbs because they are the city of the future, which we have created and will leave to our children. We have to remedy the havoc and remember that 90 percent of the urban population lives in the outskirts.”

The mission is not just urban, but social too: residential areas at the outskirts of the city are almost always not just alienated spaces, but also alienating spaces, where people pass but do not meet. They are “non-places”, to quote the anthropologist Marc Augé. It is important, therefore, to intervene to make sure that they are lived in throughout the day and prevent them from just remaining dormitories.

The suburbs, from “non-places” to “anthropological places”

To turn these “non-places” into “anthropological places” with their own identity and a high level of sociability, it is necessary to make them welcoming at a human level. For too long, local governments have focussed on redeveloping only town centres, trying to make them as attractive as possible to the eyes of tourists.

But now, there is an increasingly urgent need to decentralise services and cultural activities, and create opportunities to meet, even in the suburbs. Regeneration is, however, a delicate operation that must take account of existent structures, the history of the neighbourhood, and the needs of its inhabitants. Lighting can also contribute to improving the liveability of a neighbourhood at night, making it more usable, safe and comfortable. The brightness, distribution, direction and hue of the light can in fact change the perception of an urban area at night. An urban lighting project with social aims must give priority to analysing the structure of the neighbourhood and the habits of its inhabitants in order to identify the strategic areas to light in the best way to entice people to stop, talk and get to know each other. In fact, encouraging relations and ties between the inhabitants of a neighbourhood is the first step towards creating a community with a strong sense of belonging, thereby giving the place a real identity. 

All suburb regeneration projects should therefore consult a lighting designer to guarantee success even during the hours of darkness.

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