The document discusses the role of public lighting in designing safer places. It reports on surveys that found 31.3% of people feel unsafe at night and 39.7% do not visit public places at night. Lighting characteristics like vertical illuminance and length of dark areas can impact pedestrian reassurance. While lighting alone may not solve safety issues, guides exist to help design lighting that provides information, movement, orientation and reassurance without dark areas that could hide criminal activity.

1. The Role of Public Lighting in Designing Safer Places
Jemima Unwin & Peter Raynham

2. The Problem
Public Space and:
• Safety and Perception of Safety
• Safety demographics
• The role of time, place, climate & culture
• The impact of darkness
• Can light be the solution?

3. Safety & Perceived Safety
3076 Interviews about safety and crime:
• Have you been a victim? 184 (6.0%)
• Has a friend been a victim? 729 (23.7%)
• Do you feel unsafe at night? 963 (31.3%)
• Do not visit at night 1222 (39.7%)

4. Safety & Perceived Safety
Demographics - Victims
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
1 2 3 4 5
Series1 Series2

5. Safety & Perceived Safety
Demographics – Feel unsafe
0.0%
20.0%
40.0%
60.0%
80.0%
1 2 3 4 5
Series1 Series2

6. Safety & Perceived Safety
Demographics – Not visit at night
0.0%
20.0%
40.0%
60.0%
80.0%
1 2 3 4 5
Series1 Series2

7. What effect do headlines like this have?

8. Or assumptions such as these?

9. Examples of photographs provided by participants
Confident Not confident
Tell me about this street.
Why?–deeper but more general. What?–
superficial but more precise.

10. Confident Not confident

11. What matters to people in the environment?
“it’s dark; there is
never anybody
around there; it has
steep steps which
are old and
dangerous” (Baker’s
Hill)
“wide road, has
bus routes, better
class” (Crimicar
Lane)
Well connected
accessible environments
Encourage
usage
Lighting
Width Escape
routes
Presence of
other people
Weather
Building
use
Reputation

12. BOYCE, P.R., EKLUND, N.H., HAMILTON, B.J., and BRUNO, L.D. 2000. Perceptions of safety
at night in different lighting conditions. Lighting Research and Technology, 32, 79- 91.
Urban & suburban car parks

13. Image credit: Sam Javanrouh. https://www.flickr.com/photos/wvs/227907329

14. Streets look very different during the day and at night

15. Nine streets with different lighting conditions were used in the study

16. Does light matter to pedestrian reassurance?

17. Which lighting characteristics may matter?
Vertical illuminance
Length of dark areas
in the environment

18. Transformation of the street into ‘lurk lines’ behind
which people can hide after dark.
• Warr M. (1985). “Fear of rape among urban women.” Social Problems 32: 238-250
• Warr M. (1990). “Dangerous Situations: Social context and fear of victimisation.” Social
Forces 68:891-907.
“I fear not the dark, but what may lurk within it”

19. Other considerations
Age
Time of day and year
(10:30 pm summer)
Time of year
(7:30 pm summer)
Recent
experience

20. 20
Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bladsurb/

21. Image credits: Dr Edward Barrett
Lighting should convey
enough information to make
a judgement about what to
do in the environment.

22. How to make things better
• Use the standards and guides
– Guides exist to stop bad lighting
• What is the lighting for:
– Movement
– Orientation
– Comfort
– Reassurance
– Image
• Lighting alone may not be the full solution

23. Questions?
Contacts:
jemima.unwin@ucl.ac.uk
p.raynham@ucl.ac.uk