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Conference Exclusive Selection: Shaping Light for Health and Wellbeing in Cities

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Health, Well-Being and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 6120

Special Issue Editors

Department of Architecture, Alma Mater Studiorum—University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Interests: urban and rural regeneration; urban densification; strategic environmental assessment; adapting to climate change in urban areas; sustainable urban mobility
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences — DIBINEM, Alma Mater Studiorum Universita di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Interests: mitochondrial medicine; medical genetics
Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Interests: genetics and wellbeing
Department of Sociology, London School of Economics, London, UK
Interests: light and lighting as a social material in urban life
Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala Universitet, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
Interests: open data; communication science; E-Democracy; E-Governance; strategic communication; E-Participation; citizen participation; governance; case studies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
TECNALIA Research & Innovation, Bilbao, Spain
Interests: sustainability andresilience of historic and vulnerable environments

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The international Conference “Shaping light for health and wellbeing in cities” (https://www.enlightenme-project-conference.com/) will be held online on December 16th and 17th 2021, with the aim to investigate the multifaceted consequences light has on health and wellbeing in cities.

A major consequence of urbanization is an exponential increase of human exposure to electric light at night. Public outdoor illumination and the artificial sky glow created by highly urbanized areas are the main sources of exposure. This is complemented by increasing exposure to light at the individual level through domestic lighting and light-emitting screens, or too little exposure during the day due to shift work or unregulated lifestyles.   

The consequences of inappropriate and disruptive light exposure, generated by the urban environment, profoundly affect people’s health and wellbeing, altering their circadian rhythm. These effects cannot be overlooked, especially when they affect vulnerable populations like older adults. Light also shapes urban spaces and social life, thus influencing people’s behavior, moods, and sense of security, as well as social relationships, easing or hampering socialization and participation in civic life.   

Although public awareness of light-related health and wellbeing issues is increasing, there is less understanding of how health and wellbeing impacts derived from urban lighting are mediated by social inequalities present in cities, that may determine the kind and amount of light that citizens are exposed to.  

The Special Issue will include notable papers presented at the “Shaping light for health and wellbeing in cities” Conference. It will support the collection of evidence on indoor and outdoor lighting impacts on health and wellbeing under their various domains (medicine, social sciences, urban and lighting design, urban planning, ethics, etc.) and about tools and policy guidance to support the decision-making processes, ensuring the integration of health and wellbeing in urban lighting plans and policies.  

Potential topics include:

  • Geo-intelligence and urban analytics for urban wellbeing;
  • Social lighting and lighting technology for urban wellbeing; 
  • Co-design of light and community engagement for urban wellbeing;
  • The interplay of genes and environment for health, wellbeing, and circadian rhythm;
  • Innovative urban lighting policies;
  • Legal and ethical aspects of urban lighting and related health studies.

Prof. Dr. Simona Tondelli
Prof. Dr. Valerio Carelli
Prof. Dr. Meike Bartels
Prof. Dr. Don Slater
Prof. Dr. Deborah Mascalzoni
Dr. Aitziber Ortega
Dr. Elisa Conticelli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • lighting policies
  • lighting technologies
  • urban health and wellbeing
  • circadian rhythm
  • social lighting
  • urban analytics

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 454 KiB  
Article
Planning Artificial Light at Night for Pedestrian Visual Diversity in Public Spaces
by Antonella Radicchi and Dietrich Henckel
Sustainability 2023, 15(2), 1488; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15021488 - 12 Jan 2023
Viewed by 2015
Abstract
This article makes the case for addressing pedestrian visual diversity when planning artificial light for public spaces at night, by drawing upon original findings from an exploratory study where twenty-one open-ended interviews were conducted with experts in the fields of artificial lighting, urban [...] Read more.
This article makes the case for addressing pedestrian visual diversity when planning artificial light for public spaces at night, by drawing upon original findings from an exploratory study where twenty-one open-ended interviews were conducted with experts in the fields of artificial lighting, urban planning and health studies. Specifically, this article provides (1) the introduction of the concept of pedestrian visual diversity, defined as the condition, capabilities and needs of visually impaired pedestrians, (2) a systematization of overlooked issues in the planning of artificial light for visual diverse pedestrians in public spaces and (3) the proposition of a participatory framework for the application of lightwalks as an experiential method for involving visual diverse pedestrians in the data collection on and analysis of artificial lighting in public spaces at night. In conclusion, it identifies five strands for further research at the nexus of pedestrian visual diversity, public space and night studies for inclusive light planning. Full article
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13 pages, 7198 KiB  
Article
An Investigation of the Influence of the Night Lighting in a Urban Park on Individuals’ Emotions
by Massimiliano Masullo, Federico Cioffi, Jian Li, Luigi Maffei, Michelangelo Scorpio, Tina Iachini, Gennaro Ruggiero, Antonio Malferà and Francesco Ruotolo
Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8556; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148556 - 13 Jul 2022
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2940
Abstract
Outdoor urban lighting design is a complex issue. It involves multiple aspects (energy consumption, lighting pollution, aesthetics, and safety) that must be balanced to make sustainable decisions. Although the energy and environmental issues assumed a driving role in the optimization of the urban [...] Read more.
Outdoor urban lighting design is a complex issue. It involves multiple aspects (energy consumption, lighting pollution, aesthetics, and safety) that must be balanced to make sustainable decisions. Although the energy and environmental issues assumed a driving role in the optimization of the urban lighting design, its impact on the psychophysical well-being of individuals has received less attention. Artificial lighting has been shown to add several meanings to an individual’s experience of space: affective (affect, emotion, mood), cognitive (attention, imagination, perception), associative (memory, judgment), and motivational (closeness, openness, communication). Traditionally, studies on the effects of lighting on individuals’ emotions have mainly focused on indoor spaces, while the present study aims to investigate the influence of lighting on individuals’ emotions in an outdoor environment. Participants experienced a simulated urban park through virtual reality. Specifically, the urban park was shown with different combinations of overall illuminance (high vs medium vs low) and correlated colour temperature (CCT) (warm vs intermediate vs cool). For each combination, participants were asked to judge how they felt. In general, results showed that high-intensity cool light made participants more nervous, while warm light made individuals feel more tired and less motivated to explore the park. In contrast, an intermediate CCT at low or medium illuminance impacted individuals positively. Finally, it was found that participants’ mood predicted the impact that park lighting would have on them. These results suggest that assessing the influence of lighting on individuals’ emotions allows the decision-makers to implement the type of artificial lighting that will simultaneously safeguard both the well-being of individuals and the environment. Full article
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