Nightscape: An exploration of the future for the nocturnal urban landscape design

Light can be a wonderful thing. It allows one to see in the dark. Since the development of lamps, the intention has been to eliminate darkness from the night, as darkness is associated with danger, demons, the unknown, and all sorts of ‘scary’ things that lurk in the dark. Although light is helpful, dark nights are also needed. Not only did...

A Design for Darkness strategy for Amsterdam Noord

This thesis addresses the problem of light pollution in cities, caused by public lighting. Currently, 99% of American and European citizens live under light-polluted skies (Falchi et al, 2016). Light pollution has measurable negative effects, as it increases energy consumption, disrupts ecosystems and wildlife and harms human health (IDA, 2013)....

Driving in the Dark: Designing Autonomous Vehicles for Reducing Light Pollution

This paper proposes that autonomous vehicles should be designed to reduce light pollution. In support of this specific proposal, a moral assessment of autonomous vehicles more comprehensive than the dilemmatic life-and-death questions of trolley problem-style situations is presented. The paper therefore consists of two interre-lated arguments....

Re-envisioning the Nocturnal Sublime: On the Ethics and Aesthetics of Nighttime Lighting

Grounded in the practical problem of light pollution, this paper examines the aesthetic dimensions of urban and natural darkness, and its impact on how we perceive and evaluate nighttime lighting. It is argued that competing notions of the sublime, manifested through artificial illumination and the natural night sky respectively, reinforce a...

The Value of Darkness: A Moral Framework for Urban Nighttime Lighting

The adverse effects of artificial nighttime lighting, known as light pollution, are emerging as an important environmental issue. To address these effects, current scientific research focuses mainly on identifying what is bad or undesirable about certain types and uses of lighting at night. This paper adopts a value-sensitive approach, focusing...

Light pollution: A case study in framing an environmental problem

Light pollution is a topic gaining importance and acceptance in environmental discourse. This concept provides a framework for categorizing the adverse effects of nighttime lighting, which advocacy groups and regulatory efforts are increasingly utilizing. However, the ethical significance of the concept has, thus far, received little critical...