Public street lights play a fundamental role in our experience of the city at night yet we rarely notice street lights themselves – the lighting masts or  ‘furniture’ –  or the qualities of the lights themselves.

Presented by King’s College London’s Dr Entwistle and the Configuring Light team, based at King’s College London and the London School of Economics, this talk will highlight the social relevance of public realm lighting for our experience of the city at night. It will focus on the importance of lighting for our way-finding  and sense of safety and security, as well as the significance of lighting to demarcate major landmarks that would otherwise be lost at night and to therefore help ‘brand’ the modern city.

The talk will be followed by a night walk to show the important ways in which different forms of street lighting impact on our sense of space and place.