As a lighting designer with a background in architecture and scenography, our method of lighting design has always incorporated a mix of urban scale vision, narrative storytelling, and the fusion of technology and art. Additionally, our work on large-scale urban planning and landscape projects has shown me how the nighttime can open up a whole new perspective, as it transforms the landscape with light, highlighting the clash of different projects and strategies that often flood our cities and public spaces with light. However, the current situation poses several challenges, including light pollution, excessive energy use, discomfort, and the issue of light becoming too uniform and uninspiring.

We are currently in a pivotal moment where the design goals require more scientific input, but this one-way approach of solving a problem by technology tends to standardize, and erase many other aspects of the light, such the emotional and cultural aspects. So, what can lighting design offers in this area as a bridge between art and science ? To tackle these challenges, it’s crucial to adopt a global perspective on our nighttime environment. This is where the concept of nightscape comes in, which is essentially the nighttime view of urban landscapes, featuring a variety of architectural facades, landscape elements lit by artificial light, traffic signals, and other light sources like advertising screens, signs, and art installations.

We have been exploring and sharing insights on this topic across various projects, organizations, and conferences, aiming to uncover what could guide a new approach to lighting design, moving beyond traditional categorizations, and bringing together diverse expertise and perspectives from designers, manufacturers, scientists, municipalities, developers, and ultimately, the end-users, the citizens, around four key themes: