RE-DARKNESS: the value of darkness in urban lighting Interview with Bianca Tresoldi - Cariboni Group
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19 October 2019

RE-DARKNESS: the value of darkness in urban lighting Interview with Bianca Tresoldi

The value of darkness in urban lighting: Bianca Tresoldi, independent lighting designer, and member of AIDI and of the APIL advisory committee, talks to us about the essential role of light and that of its opposite, darkness.
RE-DARKNESS: the value of darkness in urban lighting Interview with Bianca Tresoldi

We interviewed Bianca Tresoldi, independent lighting designer, member of AIDI (Italian lighting association) and of the APIL (association of lighting designers) advisory committee, on the topic of darkness in urban lighting.

Artificial urban lighting is intended to make cities more liveable at night, and ensure the safety of those living in urban spaces. What are the risks of excessive lighting from a biological and environmental perspective? Are current technologies and regulations enough to reduce unnecessary and harmful lighting?

Public lighting, car headlights, smartphone screens, smart TVs, illuminated signs, etc. all add to the excess of light that floods cities. The excess of artificial light over the territory has transformed the night-time landscape into a confused, widespread and sometimes dazzling brightness; with extremely delicate implications for our health and ecosystem. The illuminated portion of the Earth grows by more than 2% each year, growing in both size and brightness. Tens of thousands of insects and animals are confused by this excessive glow, more or less like every living being; even we are confused by all this light. 

This omnipresent light, which allows us to live 24 hours a day, interrupts the natural rhythms that the human body has developed over time, rhythms designed to control more than 15% of our genes, and the impact on our heath is staggering when they no longer function as they should. Some answers are clear, but not all are reliable and documented. We live in a continuous experiment to find out what happens if we expose ourselves to long days, as if there was no night.

Many countries take various measures to reduce unnecessary lighting. Until a few years ago, only enthusiasts of the skies were aware of the problem. Today, numerous scientific studies show the serious implications of having too much light, and there is also an economic factor; more than 30% of the electric bills for public lighting is wasted. As a result, new lightning ergonomics parameters are being defined, which consider not only vision, but also aspects linked to personal well-being and the environment.

Current technologies, regulations and laws help, but they are not enough to reduce unnecessary lighting. It is necessary to light better and with more awareness, with design that can guarantee balanced and sustainable urban development, and planning that is integrated with the surrounding area.

Each player in an environmental redevelopment project must take full professional and legal responsibility for every action, and developers, for one, must inform themselves on the subject in order to choose the right players, and enter into the merits of the project so that they can make informed choices.

Urban lighting can tell the story of a city because it can enhance some areas, routes and architecture, and affect the emotional response of observers by varying the brightness, direction, colour and diffusion of the light. What is the value of shade, and therefore darkness, in urban lighting projects?

Artificial light has become a symbol of wealth, a common commodity to be used without limits, beyond normal human needs. We need to start turning off lights.

We've all been convinced that light increases road and personal safety, that we've defeated darkness, and the night is no longer synonymous with fear, but our cities are not as safe as we thought.

We have to get used to the dark again, the raw material of the universe is not light, but darkness. Through shadows, which are created by light, we can see the shapes in a dark space. Having chased after light, we no longer have shadows. We must darken the territory in order to re-draw the elements that make up the urban space with light, creating an integral harmony that allows the city to tell its story.

Urban lighting is complex work involving great social and environmental responsibility. We consider it important to assign lighting projects for public and private spaces in the city to lighting designers. What is the main obstacle to establishing this professional figure in Italy and Europe today? What could we do to ensure quality urban lighting?

The lighting project is a small piece of an area redevelopment project, and as such it is complex, structured, and requires professional skills. It cannot be a service with the aim of selling goods. Like all projects, lighting design also consists of an idea accompanied by a study of the implementation and execution options, which means a series of technical documents related to the work to be carried out. The main obstacle that I've faced in the last thirty years of professional activity was, and still is, recognition of the work done by the independent lighting designer. If we think of the importance of light, a material that lets us see, perceive, that affects our physical, mental and emotional state, that interacts with architectural and natural elements in the surrounding area, I wonder why lighting design is often left to “providence”. If we do not bestow importance on the professional lighting designer, it will be very hard to guarantee quality urban lighting.

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