Glasgow

United Kingdom

©Signify_Glasgow City Council_Tradeston Bridge -15

General presentation

Glasgow is Scotland’s largest city with a population of 622,820. It is the heart of a wider metropolitan area of approximately 1.2million people.

The city has transformed itself from an industrial powerhouse to a modern, lively cultural destination and knowledge-based City. This reinvention has involved significant investment in the physical environment of the city, with new homes, offices, hotels, sports and cultural venues delivered across the city over the past four decades. Sustainable and artistic urban lighting has been part of this story.

Number of inhabitants: 622 820 (1.2 Million approximately in wider urban region)

Glasgow City Council values its long-standing continued membership of the LUCI Association. Our membership has proved invaluable, and the knowledge and experience gained through the network has helped officers promote a sustainable, holistic and co-creative approach to the design of urban lighting and the city’s public spaces, placing the citizen’s experience of places at night at the heart of the decision making process.

City Council of Glasgow

Urban lighting in Glasgow

In 1780 the first street lighting in was installed in Glasgow and from 1893, electric light began to be the norm. Today, as part of the City’s commitment to become net zero carbon the city is now rolling out energy efficient LED lighting and intelligent management systems across the city.

Artistic and architectural lighting has been successfully used by the city as a tourism and leisure attractor. Glasgow first launched a comprehensive programme of lighting key public and private buildings in 1986 as a means of enhancing the City’s image in preparation for the 1988 Garden Festival. In 2001 the City Council developed and implemented its first Lighting Strategy that saw the illumination of many of the City’s landmarks and saw the City host two successful light festivals (Radiance 05’ and 07’).

Glasgow’s architectural landmarks are often now depicted at night in marketing materials used to promote the city to an international audience – e.g., Kelvingrove Museum, the Hydro, Royal Exchange Square, The Mitchell Library and lighting schemes associated with public realm works, most notably in Buchanan Street.

Number of lighting points: + 74000 approximately

Glasgow in LUCI

Member of LUCI since 2002

Executive Committee member since 2008

1st Vice-President I Represented by Bruno Paternot, Vice-President of Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole I 2024-2026
LUCI President I Councillor Allan Stewart Deputy Lord Provost of Glasgow I 2010-2012
Vice President 2008-2010
Executive Committee voting members I 2010 – 2020
LUCI Treasurer I Imran Alam, Councillor of Glasgow I 2022-2023