DAYLIGHT & SUNLIGHT PLANNING
A view on daylight planning in America By Megan Kruse and Edward Clark A UK survey1 updated in 2020 found that 16 countries had national daylight regulations including seven with Right to Light laws. Conspicuously, the US is not one of them...
In the 1950’s, a US landmark legal decision rejected this common law provision. Since then American cities have determined how or if daylight protection is considered in local design. Most have prioritized the efficiencies of dense urban housing, office space and mass transportation over focus on environmental and human health impacts. But that’s changing. A decade of unchecked density and rising awareness of health risks have prompted new urban towers to promote access to daylight as the ultimate amenity. Unfortunately, daylight access is only considered and optimized for the new buildings. This unilateral approach is leaving neighbors of new developments in the dark. Seattle is among the country’s fastest growing cities. Here, downtown neighbors have begun pressing the case for daylight preservation standards. As an urban livability advocate and sustainable design professional involved in this effort, we see the following themes driving the
daylight discussion and preservation movement.
“The pandemic has made access to daylight more urgent as millions worldwide are forced indoors and dependent on daylight available from their windows.”
Circadian Health Recognition of daylight’s function in regulating circadian rhythms has sparked international research on its role in heart disease, diabetes, cancer dementia and more. In Seattle, scientists are analyzing the connection between low levels of daylight and the severity of autoimmune diseases such as MS, a condition found in the overcast Pacific Northwest at triple the national rate. Likewise, poor mental health has been associated with lack of sustained sun exposure, most notably in Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and its lesser form, winter depression common here and other northern cities.
COVID-19 The pandemic has made access to daylight more urgent as millions worldwide are forced indoors and dependent on daylight available from their windows. Prompted by the sudden work from
1 https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/w/images/1/1d/David_Strong_(1of2)The_Daylight_Factor_TSB-BRE_ paper_v_3.pdf
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January/February 2021
www.daylightingmag.co.uk
