Lighting Masterplans are key strategic documents for cities. They provide focus and ambition for local stakeholders on the issue of urban public lighting, addressing lighting as a technology, an art form, and a community-driven dynamic.
As new generations of Lighting Masterplans emerge and more cities around the world begin to define or redefine their strategies, LUCI aims to support peer-to-peer exchange of practice on this topic. While Lighting Masterplans can take many forms and vary widely in scope, they share a common objective: providing long-term direction for urban lighting and supporting coherent, inclusive, and sustainable decision-making.
As a process, Lighting Masterplans bring together a wide range of actors around a shared vision, offering clear guidelines and objectives to guide implementation over time.
Through this working group, LUCI brings together member cities interested in exchanging knowledge and experience on Lighting Masterplans. The group operates on a peer-to-peer methodology: questions, experiences, and resources are shared collectively and moderated by the LUCI team.
Created in: 2024
Main objectives
Discussions across previous LUCI working groups and projects have highlighted Lighting Masterplans as a key tool for addressing the complexity of urban lighting. They allow cities to integrate multiple dimensions, including: health and wellbeing, safety and inclusion, public engagement, public-private dialogue, dark infrastructures, culture and identity, etc.
The Lighting Masterplan Working Group seeks to address core questions such as: What is a Lighting Masterplan? What objectives and challenges should it address today? How do Lighting Masterplans reflect the goals of the LUCI Charter & Declaration? What form do they take, how are they developed, and who is involved in the process?
To better understand existing knowledge and needs within the network, LUCI conducted a kick-off survey among its member cities, focusing on the following themes:
- How to set up a Lighting Masterplan
- How to implement it
- How to finance it
- How to communicate it
- How to evaluate it
- How to train city staff and partners
- And how to maintain it over time
The Working Group organises presentations from cities that have recently developed or updated their Lighting Masterplans, complemented by expert sessions from cities and companies with long-standing strategic approaches to lighting. These sessions focus on practical “how-to” aspects and real-world implementation.
Working Group activities
2025
- The second meeting of the Lighting Masterplan Working Group took place in November, during the LUCI Lab in Bruges.
The Lab explored how lighting shapes the nighttime experience of urban spaces — defining atmosphere and identity, influencing perceptions of safety, and challenging the instinctive call for “more light”.
Member cities exchanged insights on evolving approaches to urban lighting strategies, including how to define a Lighting Masterplan, translate long-term visions into practice, and ensure sustainable implementation. Several cities shared experiences of working with private actors to promote responsible lighting practices.
Helsinki presented its vision of a city that feels comfortable and safe while still allowing citizens to experience the night sky. The city emphasised the importance of “nightscape thinking” — integrating the nocturnal dimension into urban planning rather than treating light as an afterthought.
Helsinki also addressed emerging challenges such as the greening of public spaces, raising key questions around sustainable lighting that maintains comfort and safety. The city showcased tools including 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, built through early partnerships with private property owners. The city highlighted the need, at times, to go beyond regulatory frameworks to achieve innovative and efficient results. Lyon presented its third Lighting Masterplan, structured around three guiding principles:
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- 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 also reflected on how Lighting Masterplans connect to a broader question: how do we understand the activity of the night? Beyond lighting, public space, culture, education, and tourism must align around a shared nighttime vision. A recurring challenge identified was the need for stronger coordination between city departments.
- During the LUCI Cities & Lighting Summit in London (April), the Working Group gathered to define its main topic for 2025, based on the results of the member survey: safety and security.
In contemporary cities, urban lighting plays a crucial role in shaping urban environments and reflects broader questions related to security, surveillance, urban aesthetics, and social equality. While lighting can provide a sense of safety and comfort, making public spaces more inviting at night, it can also reveal discriminatory practices—such as unequal access to lighting resources or the use of harsh and intrusive lighting to enforce surveillance and public order.
Discussions were structured around key questions, including:
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- Are we referring to feeling safe from harm, avoiding accidents, protection from crime, or broader notions such as visibility, accessibility, social presence, or comfort?
- In your city, how are the terms ‘safety’ and ‘security’ used—are they distinguished or addressed together?
- How can Lighting Masterplans ensure this topic is addressed in a structured and thoughtful way?
A deep-dive presentation by the City of Seoul explored three key elements:
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- Seoul’s efforts to prevent Light Pollution
- Urban lighting for public safety
- Introduction to Seoul’s Urban Lighting Policy Implementation Methods
2024
- The Lighting Masterplan Working Group was officially established during the LUCI Annual General Meeting in Montpellier, in April. All LUCI members attending the kick-off session were invited to give a three-minute pitch, sharing the current status of their city’s Lighting Masterplan or their ambition to develop one.
