LUCI Lab Bruges
A living laboratory for urban lighting in Bruges
From 5 to 7 November 2025, the City of Bruges hosted the LUCI Lab Bruges, a special-format event developed by LUCI in collaboration with Fluvius and VVSG (Flemish Association of Cities and Municipalities).
Amid the atmospheric backdrop of Bruges by night, participants explored how light shapes the nocturnal experience of cities and how thoughtful lighting reinforces a city’s nighttime identity.
The Lab connected the LUCI Lighting Masterplan Working Group with Flemish cities of the VVSG network, bringing together 13 LUCI member cities from 7 countries and 19 Flemish municipalities — fostering dialogue between international peers and local practitioners.
Bruges offered an ideal setting where historical heritage and modern ambitions intersect.
The programme combined peer exchange, keynote talks, thematic labs, and on-site night walks — linking theory and practice directly in the streets of the city.
Under the banner local challenges, global dialogue, collective answers, cities shared how they address safety, inclusion, and sustainability through light, and how lighting masterplans can drive broader urban transformation.
Lighting Masterplan Working Group: sharing city experiences
Member cities Bruges, Antwerp, Budapest, Tartu, Tallinn, Leuven, Ghent, Leiden, Leipzig, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lyon, and Helsinki exchanged insights on evolving approaches to urban lighting strategies: defining a masterplan, translating visions into practice, and ensuring long-term implementation.
Some cities shared examples of educating private actors to use light responsibly.
Helsinki presented its vision of a city that feels comfortable and safe while still allowing citizens to see the night sky — emphasising the importance of “nightscape thinking”, by integrating the nocturnal dimension into planning rather than treating light as an afterthought. Emerging urban challenges, such as the greening of public spaces, raised important questions: How can we light these new areas sustainably while maintaining comfort and safety?
The city also showcased tools such as geographic information maps and guidelines for private lighting, encouraging soft illumination of lower façades to enhance presence and safety.
Lyon followed with insights from its long-standing lighting strategy, launched through early partnerships with private property owners, highlighting the need to sometimes go beyond regulations to achieve innovative and efficient results. Lyon presented its third Lighting Masterplan, built on three guiding principles:
- Quality – preserving the city’s nightscape, publishing recommendations for private lighting, and ensuring territorial equity.
- Sobriety – implementing adaptive lighting and detection systems, with a focus on preserving biodiversity.
- Citizenship – engaging residents not by asking how much light they want, but by exploring what kind of ambience they wish to experience at night.
Participants reflected on how lighting masterplans connect to the broader question: how do we understand the activity of the night?
Beyond lighting, public space, culture, education, and tourism must align toward a shared nighttime vision. A recurring challenge lies in getting different city departments to work together toward a shared nighttime vision.
Practical approaches that emerged from the discussion:
- Get politicians to experience the night — meetings about urban lighting should take place outside and after dark.
- Bring decision-makers in front of real issues — seeing challenges firsthand helps prioritise them.
- Integrate light into all urban projects from the start —Early coordination between urban planners and lighting designers is essential.
- Involve a lighting designer in every project — ensuring lighting quality and the right balance of coherence and diversity across the cityscape.
These exchanges illustrated how cities are refining their lighting masterplans to move from abstract strategies to tangible, lived experiences of the night.
Thematic sessions
At the Bruges Meeting & Convention Centre, participants explored the city’s lighting strategy, including the Bruges lantern — a symbolic element of the city’s nighttime identity — and the redesign of the station area integrating contemporary spaces within historic fabric.
Reflections from LUCI cities invited discussion on how contrasting yet complementary styles can be expressed through lighting ambience.
Keynotes by architect Luc Schuiten and urban sociologist Mattias De Backer addressed ecological, poetic, and social dimensions of light — from sustainable design to inclusivity and perception of safety.
Three interactive labs focused on key challenges for urban lighting:
- Ambience & perception of safety – exploring how lighting design influences comfort and inclusion, with a focus on gender-responsive design in cities.
- Environmental impact & circularity – discussing adaptive lighting, reduced energy use, and lifecycle approaches.
- Lighting and spatial planning – integrating light as a core element of urban design rather than an afterthought.
Participants rotated between sessions, contributing ideas and exchanging examples from their own cities.
Experiencing Bruges by night
By night, Bruges reveals another side of itself. Lively and proud by day, it becomes quieter and more contemplative after dark.
Participants discovered how the city balances nighttime attractiveness and energy efficiency through its partnership with Fluvius for maintenance and operations.
Evening walks and informal discussions offered a unique glimpse into this collaboration and the untapped potential in terms of “nightscape thinking” — while staying true to Bruges’ distinct historic identity.
Lighting for UNESCO Heritage Sites
The final day focused on lighting for UNESCO Heritage Sites and the role of light in shaping atmosphere and identity.
Bruges shared how it manages its cultural heritage, balancing preservation, visibility, and experience. Tallinn, Leiden, and Antwerp presented their own approaches to illuminating heritage sites and preserving their nighttime character.
Through carefully designed illumination, cities can reveal hidden gems, raise curiosity, and tell stories of the past — offering residents and visitors new ways to experience heritage at night.
Nighttime ambience is an integral part of a city’s intangible heritage: it captures the essence of a place, reflects its traditions, and evolves as a narrative asset.
Key takeaways from the LUCI LAB
- Lighting must serve people and place, not just visibility — the focus is shifting from more light to better light.
- Citizen participation is key: dialogue about ambience and identity fosters acceptance and more meaningful outcomes.
- Interdepartmental collaboration is essential — lighting must be integrated into broader urban strategies involving culture, mobility, environment, and safety.
- Peer learning in real urban contexts remains one of LUCI’s greatest strengths — seeing, discussing, and feeling the city at night together.
- Sustainability, circularity, and biodiversity must now be considered as integral parts of a lighting strategy, influencing procurement, maintenance, and design processes.
In the quiet glow of Bruges, participants were reminded that every city has its own story to tell at night — and that through light, these stories can be seen, shared, and celebrated.
Thank you!
A warm thank you to all participating LUCI cities: Amsterdam, Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Budapest, Ghent, Helsinki, Leipzig, Leuven, Lyon, Tallinn, Tartu, and Leiden as our special guest.
Thank you also to Tony Meert and Leentje Gunst (City of Bruges), Patrick Delleart and Xavier Buijs (VVSG), Walter Geerts, Edwin Thieren, Peter Vandepitten, Joost Cuvelier, Jan Arts (Fluvius), Els Fonteyne (Agoria), Luc Schuiten (Cité Vegetale), Matthias de Backer (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Els De Vos (University of Antwerp).
Photo credits
©LUCI