New lighting action plans and strategies for PLUS cities
The PLUS cities have been busy the past few months drafting their new lighting strategies and action plans. Two lighting experts from the cities of Burgos and Eindhoven tell us about this process…
How did the action plan proceed and what are its key features?
Arthur Noordhoek (Eindhoven): As a result of the PLUS project, the City of Eindhoven has been working on a “Vision and Roadmap Urban Lighting Eindhoven 2030”. Our lighting plan is a result of interviews with representatives of industry, knowledge institutes and the government. It describes the results of an analysis of Eindhoven’s current situation, our principles and our ambitions. It focuses on the scenario for a liveable city in 2030 based on the study of the main drivers of change and a roadmap for the opportunities, technical developments and organizational changes required to reach the desired future.
Jose Cardona Martínez (Burgos): The points of focus of the Burgos Action Plan are divided in four main groups. We plan to develop a lighting master plan in order to save energy and improve the quality of urban lighting. We will also improve communication between stakeholders. The third point is to develop resource-producing strategies such as saving energy from the functional lighting to invest in ambient/ architectural lighting. This will lead to indirect benefits for Burgos, such as tourism, one of the most important targets of the city. The fourth point involves substantially improving education and awareness programmes in order to optimise communication and feedback with the citizens and municipal administrations.
How did the feedback from PLUS experts and deep dives help contribute to this?
A. Noordhoek (Eindhoven): The Deep Dive visit and Regional Forum illustrated the current situation of the city. Eindhoven is recognised as a city where innovation in the field of lighting within the Triple Helix cooperation has been applied. The PLUS experts advised us to make clear choices for future rollout and stick to them.
J. Martínez (Burgos): The Deep Dives and PLUS experts’ contributions have been definitely very important for the drafting of Burgos’ Strategy and Action Plan. There are many topics in the Action Plan that come directly from the expert conclusions of the Deep Dive. For example, the adaptation of lighting to the EU standards, the proposal to increase the use of dimming or to replace all the mercury lamps in the city.
What are the next steps now?
A. Noordhoek (Eindhoven): The plan is now under consideration at the City Council.
J. Martínez (Burgos): Due to the economic situation, it is clear that it is not the moment to make big investments. So, in the short term, the next steps will be focused on two specific tasks – planning and educating. So
first, we will develop a lighting master plan for functional (main streets, bridges, tunnels, etc.) and ambient/architectural (heritage sites, facades, squares, etc.) lighting. Besides this, we will focus on education and awareness programmes (for adults and children) to improve communication between different stakeholders and ensure citizens’ acceptance of future lighting initiatives. The rest of the actions programmed in the Action Plan, needing more investment, will be developed in a medium to long-term perspective, in a time frame up to 2020.
