Street Lighting
D.C. Residents Fight Light Pollution
New LED lighting has raised concerns about the health and environmental impacts of excessive or harsh lighting.
Pittsburgh Becomes First 'Dark Sky' City in Eastern U.S.
As evidence showing the benefits of dark skies builds, Pittsburgh becomes the first eastern American city to enact a dark sky policy.
Seeing the Street
A San Francisco-based design studio describes the thought process behind an effort to push outdoor lighting design beyond the lowest common denominator allowed by bureaucracy and status quo thinking.
How Planning Can Reduce the Threat of Gender Violence
A piece from Anchorage, Alaska discusses problems that can arise when planners don't address gender-based safety. Walkable, populated, well-lit streets and transit are the best remedy.
Critic: Improve Lighting to Improve Dallas Walkability
Architecture Critic Mark Lamster sets aside the complex issues of lane configurations and traffic calming to focus on a key aspect of walkability: proper lighting.
Three Technological Innovations that Could End Asphalt as We Know it
As more municipalities are shutting off lights for energy savings, technological innovations are leading the way in new lighting and paving systems to make up for these economic and environmental constraints.
What Happens When a City Turns Out the Lights?
Strapped for cash, cities across the US have decided to save money by turning off street lights. An investigative series documents the effect of all those darkened lights on crime and economic development in San Diego - home to a $30 million backlog.
Lighting Revolution Produces Radiant Visions of Our Future
The technological advances transforming "Edison’s 130-year-old industry" promise to revolutionize the way light is integrated in our homes, workplaces, and cities.
How Light Helped Remake Downtown Philadelphia
Neal Peirce looks at how Philadelphia has used light to help transform the image, and fortunes, of Center City.
Looking Back to Find the Road Ahead
In the wake of massive power outages in the Northeast, lighting designer Linnaea Tillett describes pre-industrial techniques for lighting and wayfinding that just might be worth revisiting.
Care and Maintenance Instructions for Urban Infrastructure
Morgan Clendaniel reports on a Minneapolis artistic intervention, Urban Plant Tags, that call attention to often overlooked amenities in the built environment.
Seattle Launches Ambitious Streetlight Survey
The Emerald City puts the streetlight of the future to the test – for both safety and feel, and the results could affect how cities everywhere are illuminated in the future, reports William Yardley.
Cities of Light
Leni Schwendinger says that cities don't pay enough attention to the way lighting effects the built environment. She's currently working on the lighting for Times Square's new pedestrianized streets.
CA Cities Switching to LED Lighting
Following the success of programs in L.A. and San Francisco, more cities in California are making the switch to LED lights to save on energy costs and provide more sustainable street lighting.
Preserving Darkness
France is hoping to establish a "darkness reserve" by regulating street lighting in towns and villages near a mountaintop observatory.
Environmentalism Over Aesthetics
John Barber laments cities' tendency to (rightfully) favor environmental consciousness over aestheticism. Low-carbon street lighting is the latest eco-trend to retrofit, and potentially blight, the streets of Toronto.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Town of Zionsville
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
