I’m designing a solarpunk city for my next novel and am exploring my options for streetlights. On the one hand, light pollution harms wildlife and humans. It also uses energy. On the other, well-lit streets increase the perception of safety. This is not to say good lighting prevents crime. If anything, it facilitates it. Further, you would expect crime to be less in a solarpunk city that prioritizes mutual aid, minimizes wealth disparity, and fights toxic masculinity. However, we should not discount the feeling of danger from darkness.
Personally, I’m male presenting, actively seek out dangerous situations, and have a high tolerance for horror movies. My first inclination is that streetlights should go. That said, once I got caught out at night in the woods. I was immediately terrified. And I had my phone light with me. In short, if a city is not lit, I suspect few people would venture out at night.
1- Mostly Dark-
A city could remove all street lights. People would instead rely on personal lighting: head lamps and flashlights. This would be more efficient and less harmful. Curbs and other critical areas could be marked (not illuminated) by glow-in-the-dark paint or bioluminescent algae or plants. There would be some light from open windows.
2- Lightly Lit-
Streetlights with caps that aim light downward, wavelengths skew into the redder side of the spectrum, and the minimum illumination required to see. Amber light is less harmful. Brighter lights create more shadows. An example of a city using this minimal approach is Canberra, as light pollution would jeopardize local observatories.
3- Cinderella Lighting -
Bright streetlights switch off at a specific time, such as midnight. This would allow people to enjoy some nighttime hours, while leaving others to more natural darkness. This is the scenario I used in my previous solarpunk novels.
Do let me know your preference and awesome ideas.
I just want to say, as a light pollution researcher, it warms my heart to see people start to get it.
You’re on the right track and got plenty of good suggestions already. I’ll add that the way to improve the feeling of safety is to light the faces of people, so you need lights at least taller than humans if you want them pointing downwards. Uniformity of lighting is also a big part, so multiple small lamps tend to be better than one big one.
In short, keep it dim, amber/red, uniform, localized, downward pointing (with dark roads if possible) and turn it off when not needed (most town in France shit off the lights in the evening and no one complained).
Also, keeping the streets narrow, winding and having buildings close (aka European streets) will confine the light in the city better than the opposite.
Feel free to ask me anything and good luck!
Change the colour. Red light is less bright and better light pollution wise for wildlife, but still gives the same illusion of safety. Also doesn’t stimulate the circadian rythm. Also 95% of light pollution is eliminated when streetlamps are specifically down facing.
this pic should help visualise https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/s/abmxpwZ1jE
Came here to say this. Red light + directional lighting basically solves the problem.
I wonder how well white directional lighting with matte red pavements would work? You get maximum perception of safety but in theory most of the actual reflected light should be red.
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What about some tree- or bush-like structures that have lots of small lights, one under each leaf? Having many lights that could all be positioned and angled differently would let you direct the light to only where it’s needed and create a smooth shaddow-free glow. And be pretty too! Like the Cave of Two Lovers @Gorgritch_umie_killa@aussie.zone posted. Individual lights could have different color and brightness too.
Depending on the kind of bio-engineering or fantastical biology in your world these could be completely organic, completely manufactured, or some combination like lights attached to trees/vines grown for the purpose.
What about some combination of 2 and 3 with “smart” control, like motion activated or buttons that light up a street for the next 500m or so and turn off after some time
So, I feel like 2, maybe with 3 in certain high-traffic areas, would be a good idea, for a couple reasons:
- increased visibility for vehicles, particularly in places with a lot of pedestrians, who might not all have their own lights or be too inebriated to use them.
- nighttime socializing outdoors, such as markets, streets with lots of nightlife, plazas, etc. Sure, small personal lights could become incorporated into fashion, but those also need to be powered, and would have to illuminate faces without blinding anyone. Public lighting just seems easier.
- less isolating for night shift workers (if that’s a thing in the world you’re writing).
Could even have 2 shut off in quieter neighborhoods that have no open businesses during the wee hours.
No shame in taking inspiration from the greatest, most excitingist, and amazingist show on earth.
I reckon Cabbages would be a great business idea in a Solarpunk kinda world… just sayin.
Dark Sky is a group working to protect the visibility of the night sky. https://darksky.org/what-we-do/advancing-responsible-outdoor-lighting/
They’ve got suggestions on both limiting use of lighting and using lights that don’t point upward, automatically dim, and don’t generate a lot of glare
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If you’re building a world it’s #1. If you’re telling a story then it’s #2 with presence activation. If you’re Asimov then all of these are wrong.
