Nighttime is a time-bound place distinct from day. The experiential after-dark condition of street design has been neglected.

Do you support flexible, safe, joyous streets?  Let us know here.

Streets are a static platform, however the activities they contain are in flux. Light-Streets-Pilot makes the case for safety, joy and “ownership” of local streets through arts, public engagement and innovative technologies. Here, we summarize a study completed by International Nighttime Design for New Urban Mobility Alliance (NUMO) during a four-month period in 2019.

Thoroughfares, and their design, are normally regarded as material; composed of paving, and when augmented, adorned by trees, benches and other amenities. The design and operation of streets and control of their flow and direction is addressed by signage and traffic signals – both analog and smart enabled. After dark, right-of-way users rely on street lighting, which is inevitably focused on the vehicular way, and less often, on sidewalks. There are hybrid applications, such as retro-reflective beads layered onto crosswalk street painting that stand out as innovative, but remain inert and solely function-driven.

The Light-Streets-Pilot concept asserts that advanced lighting technologies may heighten and enable street area reallocation for varied flows and usage, which holds promise for re-imagined flexibility. The increased range of vehicle types and mobility services, combined with expanding curb usage and the greater possibilities of intelligent technologies, are additional reasons to focus on creating such flexibility.

NUMO’s goal is to partner with organizations to implement a series of pilots that prioritize night streets and contribute joyous experiences to street space users. NUMO and International Nighttime Design Initiative seek support to demonstrate that city night design is critical to the future of mobility. If  you are champion for flexible, safe, joyous streets, please respond here to let us know.

Walk through this exciting link: LIGHT-STREETS_PILOT – Summary presentation (PDF) to learn about the development of Light-Streets-Pilot. The presentation starts with the very basic properties of light to be optimized for mobility and  culminates in addresses feasibility for the two pilot designs.  

Thanks to upLIGHT Design for their contribution to the project