Coloured lighting in the experience of urban spaces: research, results and guidelines

Urban lighting is not only useful to enable night vision but also to improve the aesthetic value of the city creating better spaces for the public realm. The perceived urban environment lit by artificial lighting is codified by the human visual system that interpret certain regularities such as intensity, wavelength and distribution in the space of the lighting phenomena. The colour of lighting is also an important feature in the nocturnal experience of the cityscape because it can arouse definite emotional and aesthetical reactions and affect people behaviour and enhance their experience of the urban space. The methodology of this study is based on a preliminary multi-disciplinary bibliographic review in the fields of light, perception, architecture and design, investigating the perception of the users. The second analytical part of the research is based on a multiple-method survey strategy about case studies, from where a qualitative reflection about the coloured lighting in the urban environment is derived. In particular, this research would investigate common trends of preference about coloured and also the cool/warm Correlated Colour Temperature CCT of the white light. Coloured lighting would be described in its balance of variety and unity, complexity and interactivity with its meaningful functions: communicating, attention marking, identity making (ambiance), way-finding, architecture enhancing, socially engaging.