2023 LUCI Coffee Bre@ks
In order to keep engaging with LUCI members, offering high-quality learning experiences and maintaining the atmosphere of the much loved “LUCI Family”, we created the LUCI Coffee Bre@ks. These short 30-minute regular online rendezvous sessions are an opportunity for members to stay in touch and hear from experts on a variety of urban lighting topics.
☕ January 2023 Coffee Bre@k
“Tammerkoski Rapids, Industrial Heritage Reimagined – Joonas Markus and Arto Heiskanen
In the first Coffee Bre@k of the year, Joonas Markus (City of Tampere) and Arto Heiskanen (WhiteNight Lighting Oy) gave background to the lighting project that won 2nd prize in the 2022 LUCI Cities & Lighting Awards. They discussed the project’s objectives and impacts since its launch in 2020. In relation to the judges’ praise for the project’s “fascinating interplay of light and shadow” in a historical area of industrial buildings, the speakers also addressed the underlying question to current urban lighting strategies where cities strive to find the right amount of lighting.
LUCI members can access the recording, materials and discussion from this Coffee Bre@k on the LUCI Hub.
☕ February 2023 Coffee Bre@k
“Sharing lights 4Ukraine: Leipzig, Brussels, Kyiv and you.” – Emilie Dias (Leipzig Light Festival)
The City of Leipzig presented the initiative and explained how the LUCI network could personally get involved by donating a flashlight. The LUCI team ensured they were sent to Kyiv through the cooperation with Leipzig after its collection during AGM Jyväskylä – read more here.
LUCI members can access the recording, materials and discussion from this Coffee Bre@k on the LUCI Hub.
☕ May 2023 Coffee Bre@k
“Keep the lights on: the switch to connected lighting” – Harry Verhaar (Signify)
After the adoption of the LUCI Declaration for the Future of Urban Lighting, we wanted to go deeper in Goal n°1 “Embracing net zero lighting” and Goal n°4 “progressing through public-private dialogue”. This Coffee Bre@k was an occasion for a senior representative of the lighting industry to give a fresh view on challenges we face and solutions to address them.
LUCI members can access the recording, materials and discussion from this Coffee Bre@k on the LUCI Hub.
☕ June 2023 Coffee Bre@k
“Skyglow and light pollution in aquatic ecosystems: cause, impact and mitigation strategies” – Andreas Jechow (IGB Berlin)
Humans traditionally live close to freshwaters and where humans are there is light. Thus, aquatic ecosystems like rivers and lakes can experience high levels of light pollution. In this talk, Andreas Jechow (IGB Berlin) will give some background information on skyglow and light pollution as well as provide an overview of its extent and some impacts focusing on freshwaters. Finally, he will also provide some information towards possible mitigation solutions.
LUCI members can access the recording, materials and discussion from this Coffee Bre@k on the LUCI Hub.
☕ September 2023 Coffee Bre@k
“Development of nighttime identity for urban heritage in the Old Bangkok, Thailand“ – Chanyaporn Bstieler (Assistant Professor/Director, Lighting Research and Innovation Centre (LRIC))
This talk gave an overview of a proposed development of a night time identity in the old quarter of Bangkok. In Thailand’s capital city, Old Bangkok is noted for its unique urban heritage. This district is delineated by the Chao Phraya River and the canal networks around the Grand Palace and it contains a wealth of living, local culture and some significant religious and historic sites. However, a critical assessment of existing lighting reveals opportunities for immense improvements. Based around the notion of place identity, we employed various methods to investigate the subjective perceptions of local residents, and international tourists as well as lighting experts. These resulting, valuable insights provide a unique lighting design language for creating concepts to strengthen cultural identity, enhance the night time economy and at the same time, minimise environmental impacts. This researched approach might also pave the way for the adoption of quality urban lighting and sustainable night time tourism by other, developing Asian cities that share a similar urban heritage context.
LUCI members can access the recording, materials and discussion from this Coffee Bre@k on the LUCI Hub.
☕ October 2023 Coffee Bre@k
“Digital and energy transition in lighting“ – Bruno Foucras (Assistant Professor, Energy Transition Department of the Institute of Technology, Aix-Marseille University)
“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land”, IPCC says. But climate change is just one of the consequences of human activities, and all of them come from the representation that humans have of their ‘environment’, thinking that they can totally dissociate themselves from it.
Digital technologies seem to be the ultimate tool to snatch human from nature. Therefore, the main question is to find the legitimate balance between, on one side, new services allowed by digital technologies, opportunities for the transition, and on the other side the environmental cost and the preservation of acceptable living conditions on our planet.
Lighting is on the front line because where there are humans, there is often already artificial light and consequently electricity and a pole where we can install many new devices to offer digital services. Do lighting designers’ interests hold sway against digital players?
LUCI members can access the recording, materials and discussion from this Coffee Bre@k on the LUCI Hub.
Photo credits: ©Skyfox, Marko Kallio – City of Tampere; ©Marit Schulz; ©Signify; ©NASA ©Lighting Research & Innovation Centre, KMUTT and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and LandProcess
