2.3.3 Belysningsmasterplan for København

Secondary goals.

The secondary goals slightly touch upon Goal 15 - "Life on Land" with target number 15.5 "Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species".

Taking this into account, the proposal avoids disrupting the insects, birds or any other form of wildlife from their habitat. The changes in the place should have minimal impact on wildlife both during implementation as well as afterwards, with no significant alteration to the habitat or ecosystem of any living being in the space.

Since the place used to be visited a lot by tourists from cruise ships in the past, there will not be any big changes in the impact of human presence on other life ecosystems in the area, with the aim at creating a more pleasant atmosphere for humans without massive construction, pavement or other disruptive activities. The number of people visiting will increase compared to current levels but will not exceed the number of people present at its peak when cruise ships full of tourists docked every day.

The Copenhagen Lighting Masterplan (Københavns Kommune & UiWE, 2014) provides a basis for future lighting projects in the capital of Denmark. Its purpose is “to describe a holistic and strategic approach for the development of Copenhagen's street and urban lighting. The ambition is to ensure comprehensive energy savings and create a coherent, locally based and unique lighting image for Copenhagen.”

This Masterplan plays a crucial role in the development of this project due to three reasons. Firstly, it reflects on the three topics of the initial overall question: functional needs, identity and coherence and sustainability. Secondly, its guidelines should be considered in the process of analysis and design. These requirements can be quantitative, like the Correlated Colour Temperature (CCT), or qualitative, like the wishes of local committees. Finally, some useful examples can be found and used as inspiration for the future proposal.

The Masterplan is structured around six focus areas: safe city, secure city, sustainable city, active city, living city and mediating city (Fig 2.11). These topics can remind Jan Gehl’s theories about public space. This is because “the focus areas are formulated so they are connected with the City of Copenhagen's other strategies” (Københavns Kommune & UiWE, 2014), and Gehl’s theories have had a big influence on Copenhagen’s development. Lighting is just another ingredient and, therefore, the ideas that the

Figure 2.11 Copenhagen Lighting Masterplan six focus areas

city wants to communicate should be the same regardless of solar time. As Susheela Sankaram says, “In order to understand lighting in cities you need to understand the city in general.” (Arup, 2015).

Fig 2.11 Copenhagen Lighting Masterplan six focus areas.

Besides, these focus areas can also be interpreted as functional needs and benefits that lighting can support in public spaces. The six focus areas are summarized below:

Safe City. It focuses on reducing the risk of traffic accidents and increasing road safety, with three specific recommendations: clearer lighting hierarchy, highlighting the visibility of soft traffic edges and reduction of visual noise. In The benefits of light at night, Peter R. Boyce states “The most fundamental reason for using light at night is to enable people walking outdoors after dark to see obstacles on their path ahead and thereby avoid colliding with them or tripping over them. The obstacles can be either large or small”. Drivers must also be considered “by increasing the visibility of the road ahead” and “in stabilizing perception and reducing discomfort when driving at night” (Boyce, 2019).

Secure City. The Masterplan proposes some strategies to experience the city as a secure place to move and stay in, to improve the visibility and orientation, and to promote the affiliation between residents and their neighbourhoods through qualitative lighting. The recommendations are to create “overview conditions and monitoring”, because “where there is light, there are eyes that see, and thus security”; to establish “clear demarcations between private and public spaces” considering “light initiatives as a way to strengthen social cohesion”; to design “inviting urban spaces” that attract more people, in particular concentrations of pedestrians and cyclist; to improve facial recognition and lines of sight that play along with the architecture, providing orientation and a quick overview of the space.

Although some public spaces are not considered insecure according to police statistics, lighting should always be considered since “while the benefits of using light at night to reduce crime are uncertain, it is much more routinely found that lighting the streets reduces fear of crime, particularly for women and the elderly” (Boyce, 2019). Therefore, the effects of urban lighting on the feeling of reassurance can be even more important than on the real incidence of crime.

Sustainable City. Although the Masterplan does not contain specific regulations to reduce light pollution, there is an ambition to minimize the city’s light pollution for the benefit of both, people and animals: “In addition to consequences such as energy waste and glare, light pollution also has the disadvantage that it impairs the view of the night sky. Recreational use of nature also includes the experience of the night, including the ability to observe celestial phenomena such as shooting stars or northern lights.” As well as preserving the dark sky, it includes some recommendations to reduce the nuisance of lighting on wildlife, such as avoiding light barriers so as not to fragment habitats or considering colour temperatures and location of the luminaires, with a special focus on flying insects.

In the same way, Roger Narboni states that “the control of light pollution, the protection of the environment and the necessary reduction of energy consumption have become now the major stakes of any lighting strategy”. He says that the study of black infrastructures should complement the different Lighting Masterplans to protect the night biodiversity and allow a better relationship between urban uses and the natural environment (Narboni, 2016).

Active City. This focus area points out the motivation for a more physically active life for the Copenhageners to improve their health and how lighting can make it more accessible and attractive to move around the city.