Interviews

A set of questions was created to gather information from the people present on site. Interviews are used to find out personal details about the space perception. The purpose of the interviews was to discuss the space and its problems directly with the people visiting it, on the site. This approach gives more context to the data and helps, interviews are more complex to carry out but it provides valuable insights through an in-person conversation between the interviewer and the interviewee.

The questions were formulated following the recommendations of Luciana Martinez from Light Follow Behaviour, one of the guest lecturers in Light & Context course. The purpose is to avoid influencing on interviewee’s answers. The final questions used on site were: • How often and why do you come here? • What times and days do you come here and why? • Do you feel different in the space after dark? • Are there areas you feel are difficult to navigate after dark? • Are there areas that you specifically enjoy? • Has your experience of the space changed since tourists stopped visiting? • What would you like the space to feel like after dark?

The interviews were conducted during dusk and night and the interviewees found on site were from the walker and fishermen categories. 1. The first Interviewee said she came often to the space because she worked in a building nearby and she enjoyed having a drink with her friends outside office hours. She came mostly when night falls, but she didn't necessarily feel safe in the space, she mentioned: “I wouldn't come here all alone”, the reason why she came accompanied by a friend or two most of the times. She lived for five years in the area and observed that since the pandemic, the number of people in the area was reduced substantially, given the fact that there were fewer cruise ships docking. Before COVID-19 there were lots of cruise ships coming and docking by the pier. Now, she said, a nice change to the place was that people picked up fishing, something they didn't use to do before. 2. The second interviewee mentioned that he didn't come often to the place, that he received recommendations from social media about it being a good place for fishing in Copenhagen, but that he did not come otherwise. He mentioned that the fishermen arrived after dark and that they preferred fishing spots with light. Small fish come attracted by the light so people fish around the light poles generally. He prefers to come during these times because there is not a lot of activity. 3. A third interviewee mentioned he was at the place because he lived close by; he mentioned that he enjoyed taking a walk because "There are hardly any people". During the weekend, offices were empty, and he enjoyed the solitude and that during the pandemic fewer people visited the place. He felt different in the space after dark, mentioning that he didn't come at that time because there are not a lot of exits: "no easy exits, you feel trapped". He felt unsafe strolling around at night. He liked the benches up because he could see the view, mentioning it was nice for him to go from the low level up and down again to enjoy the view from different perspectives. He hadn't seen any cruises coming in for quite some time. He had noticed some right before the pandemic. He mentioned he didn't consider the space, that it was a bit claustrophobic due to lack of lighting: "you cannot really see who´s coming and who´s going". He would prefer more lights in the space. Atmospheric lighting was preferred or something ´more´, a sort of new lighting design that would fit the old architecture. Concerning the