52
APRIL 2022 LIGHTING JOURNAL
SOCIALLY
SMART
‘LUCI’, Lighting Urban Community International Association, has published a new ‘white paper’ on smart cities. It emphasises that smart city ‘success’ means engaging with and taking on board social and community questions and concerns as much as focusing on overcoming technological challenges By Nic Paton
T
he ILP is a member of ‘LUCI’, the Lighting Urban Community International Association. To that end, the recent publication by LUCI of a ‘white paper’ on smart lighting was one to sit up and take notice of. The publication, A cities’ guide to smart lighting, has been co-written by LUCI and lighting designer Dr Philip Ross. Initiated by LUCI and the Interreg North West Europe SMART-SPACE project, it is the result of a one-year collaboration involving in-depth interviews, a series of cocreation sessions, and consultation and engagement with LUCI members. The guide, broadly, outlines reasons why smart lighting should be considered by cities, local authorities and municipalities and how it can contribute to a broad range of city priorities, including environmental sustainability, social cohesion, citizen value, the city’s internal organisation and so on.
It includes practical advice, including building the business case, organising expertise, conducting pilots, interoperability, citizen engagement, tendering and data management. One key innovation to the guide is the fact it approaches smart lighting not just from the technical/technological side but from its social/societal impact, too.
WHY SMART LIGHTING?
The guide is divided into two main sections. First, there is an element on ‘why smart lighting?’, so addressing the role and benefit of smart lighting in terms of social and environmental sustainability, organisational growth, maintenance and asset management, enabling new functionality, and (self-evidently) putting in place new lighting possibilities for cities and citizens. It also, however, highlights potential reasons not to go smart. These include if,
for example, citizens or residents haven’t been brought along or engaged with you, the risks around data gathering and the sharing (even anonymised) of data, cybersecurity, lack of expertise and capacity. The second section then expands into a series of more practical ‘how to?’ guides, covering areas such as building the business, social and sustainability case; exploring the best use and potential of your infrastructure; project management; and organising expertise, especially design expertise. A number of case studies are highlighted, including the experience of Eindhoven, Helsinki, Budapest and the City of London. For example, the guide explains how Helsinki is installing protective tubes and micro-channel piping for optical fibre, designed to ‘future proof’ fast-growing demand for power and data, including 5G. Budapest, by comparison, is equipping selected luminaires with NEMA sockets,
