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Outdoor lighting design for municipalities: an important contribution to citizens’ quality of life
Light is a powerful but often overlooked feature of our urban experience. Yet lighting design can play an important role in the lifestyle of a municipality’s residents. It can either enrich or impoverish the experiences of those who live there.
Is lighting a park or public space just a question of safety?
Urban lighting has always played a key role in safer driving and crime prevention. However, exposure to light also has other consequences that go beyond these valid considerations.
Emotional and social effects to consider when improving lighting quality.
There is a relationship between emotions and urban lighting scenes. At Oasis Lighting we take great care to observe the emotions felt by citizens in the outdoor public spaces we light, such as pedestrian zones, parks and other public places.
We recognize that outdoor lighting generates different moods in people. The intensity and quality of its distribution can also influence feelings of security and social relationships. A well-lit space in which faces and facial expressions are recognizable creates a greater sense of comfort, and users feel protected and unthreatened by the presence of others.
Parc Lionel-Girardin à Saint-Félix-de-Kingsey
MUNICIPAL LIGHTING TRANSFORMS PUBLIC SPACE
AN INSPIRING TESTIMONIAL :
“We would like to emphasize how satisfied we were with the services provided by the Oasis company for our lighting project. Their team demonstrated professionalism, efficiency and creativity. Every step, from design to implementation, was carried out with great attention to detail, and the results exceeded our expectations.
What particularly sets Oasis apart is their responsiveness and availability. For every question or request, the company was always there to give us clear, rapid answers. They made sure we were kept informed throughout the project. This fluid communication greatly facilitated our collaboration. Whether for outdoor installations or specific lighting effects, their expertise enabled us to transform our public space into a magical, welcoming place, all within our budget.
We highly recommend Oasis to any municipality or organization looking for a reliable partner for illumination projects. Our project was a real success for Saint-Félix-de-Kingsey, and we’re very proud of it.”
Alexandre Côté
Directeur général, Municipalité de Saint-Félix-de-Kingsey
Directeur général, Municipalité de Saint-Félix-de-Kingsey
Light as a social experience
Lighting can therefore increase citizens’ sense of trust in the city and the people who inhabit it. In cases where the design of urban space is aimed at meeting spaces, lighting can contribute by enhancing the experience of the image at night, encouraging people to stay and interact with each other, as well as fostering socialization within the community.
For good lighting of urban spaces, it’s not enough for systems to comply with the technical requirements imposed by regulations or the economic and energy requirements of municipalities, nor to make the urban setting spectacular. Rather, it’s important to understand the relationship between spaces and the behavior of the people who live in them, in order to enhance the night-time conviviality and quality of life of urban spaces with light.
Lighting is a key factor, as it can clarify the layout of a park by emphasizing walkways, focal points, gathering places and building entrances. When designed as a coordinated system, lighting improves the legibility, use and night-time enjoyment of a site.
It is often important to light activity areas and main walkways so that they become the focus of pedestrian activity after dark. Alternatively, it can be decided not to light certain areas, as their use at night would be dangerous or inappropriate.
Lighting design for public spaces and municipal parks
The success of a public space depends on more than its location or design. In other words, while architects and planners must first design these spaces, what will matter most in the end is whether people will use them. This is where lighting plays such a crucial role in making them accessible and embraced by citizens once the sun goes down.
LED lighting options for public spaces
The benefits are social and economic – modern LED lighting solutions can help parks and public open spaces deliver excellent economic value, saving up to 70%. LED lighting can make spaces more welcoming and help create visual experiences. White LED lighting, for example, can provide a range of outdoor lighting solutions, from feature-specific accent lighting to high-intensity washes of intense white light.
The right lighting design for safe public spaces
Lighting can help reduce crime and, above all, the fear of crime. People may feel unable to use parks and public spaces due to fear of crime. Alongside physical changes to these spaces to make them safer, lighting can do much to alleviate the fear of crime, and therefore encourage greater use of them, making them truly open to all.
What Oasis Lighting can do for your municipality
We’re constantly evolving to better understand the impact of lighting on citizens’ lives, and to produce street lighting ideas that best serve the needs of municipalities. For example, has the installation of low-energy lamps been avoided in areas where municipal machinery can damage them (lawnmowers, snowblowers, shovels)?
Oasis Lighting continually aims to create new and more creative lighting designs to help improve outdoor spaces for Quebec municipalities.