DARK SKIES,PERCEPTION OF SAFETY AND AESTHETICS

2. DARK SKIES,PERCEPTION OF SAFETY AND AESTHETICS Peter McLean Lighting, Art + Science

3. External Illumination is a byproduct, possibly a necessity of the developed world

4. What is the purpose of external lighting?

5. Work longer Extend working hours beyond daylight

6. Play longer Extend leisure activities beyond daylight hours

7. Night Sport • Spectator Sport • Sports training • Extension of day activities • Football – Golf - Hockey

8. Safe Movement • Negotiate and navigate outside at night • Streetlighting • Car Headlights • Pedestrian Lighting

9. Establishing a night presence Creating high visual impact advertising Advertising

10. Night Aesthetic Environment • Buildings • Landscape • Artwork, fountains, monuments, bridges, natural formations

11. Safety and Security • Reduce the Risk of Accident • Reduce the Risk of Crime • Increase the Perception of Safety

12. Why is there a need to control sky glow? • Not purely sky glow that needs to be controlled but the general waste and unnecessary lighting

13. Why is there a need to control sky glow? • Astronomy – professional and amateur • See the night sky – not just a few stars • Preserve darkness as part of the environment

14. Opinions • Interests • Vested interests • Knowledge or ignorance • Priorities

15. Advocates for both sides see themselves as being in the right • Concessions and Compromise • Can it go far enough to be useful in the long term? • Is it like King Canute stopping the tide?

16. New risks to the skies • Lighting as a tool for Crime Prevention • Liability and the risk of litigation • Pseudo Standards and minimum illuminance levels

17. “On average, 40 per cent of night time street crime occurs when lighting levels are at five lux or below ( a lux is a measure of lighting : a typical side street has a level of about two lux at night and 18,000lux on a bright day). Only three percent of crime at night occurs when the lighting level is above 20 lux”ACT Crime Prevention & Urban Design Resources Manual quoting, Paul Stollard, Crime Prevention through Housing Design, London, Chapman and Hall 1991.

18. “electricity is the high priest of `false security”Sherlock Holmes Increased public lighting has become the high priest of crime prevention

22. Minimum and Uniformity determine Average • Uniformity = Min/Avg • Avg 7 , Min 2  Uniformity 0.29 • Avg 20 , Min 10  Uniformity 0.5 • If Min fixed at 10 and the best uniformity that can be achieved is 0.3 • Avg = 33

23. Vertical Illuminance • Excessive levels and coverage means it becomes the primary design criteria • Pushes designers away from cut off fittings • Increases glare and upward light output

24. Fear of the Dark

25. End Result • Illumination levels are being forced up by people deciding that they want “better than the code” • Raising minimum levels is further forcing up average levels • Vertical illuminance requirements are increasing the upward light output

26. End Results • Justification is safety and security • Fear of litigation stops rational evaluation

27. End Results • Justification is safety and security • Fear of litigation stops rational evaluation

28. End Results • Justification is safety and security • Fear of litigation stops rational evaluation

29. End Results • Justification is safety and security • Fear of litigation stops rational evaluation

30. End Results • Justification is safety and security • Fear of litigation stops rational evaluation