%0 Book Section
%A Unwin, J
%B Urban Lighting for People: Evidence-Based Lighting Design for the Built Environment
%C London, UK
%D 2019
%E Davoudian, N
%F discovery:10131967
%I RIBA Publishing
%P 56-75
%T Lighting for reassurance
%U https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10131967/
%X The idea that lighting plays a role in  pedestrian reassurance is not at all new. Laws related to the lit  environment were passed early in the 15th century in London,  when the Court of the Common Council proclaimed that a lit  lantern should be placed outside every house during the busy  Christmas Watch. Likewise in Paris, Louis XI ordered his subjects  to shine lanterns in the houses of windows at junctions to deter  bandits.  1   Jumping centuries ahead, British Standard 307, dated  1927, recommends minimum horizontal illuminance levels for  streets, ranging from 0.01 foot-candles (equivalent to 0.1 lux  – less than moonlight) to 20 foot-candles (equivalent to 21.5  lux – just over the requirements for a typically lit underpass  under a busy traffic intersection). This range is much bigger  than the minimum and maximum illuminance levels provided for  pedestrians today. So, how did we come up with these numbers?  And how do they relate to what people feel and need? Standard  writers no doubt have the best intentions at heart – they say  they want to provide environments that are both safe and  comfortable to use. However, it is impossible to find the origin of  the rationale behind recommended illuminance levels other than  somebody thought it was a good idea, and nobody complained.  Perhaps as our capacity for interior lighting increased, so too  did our appetite for exterior lighting, not quelled by the price of  electricity, which has fallen over time. Now that the expectation  for exterior lighting has been set, when street lighting is  dimmed or switched off we feel as though something is missing,  something which is reassuring, comforting and lets us see  enough to be able to make a judgement about how to behave in  an environment.
%Z This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.