Urban Lighting, Light Pollution and Society

This volume combines key findings of the research collaboration "Loss of the Night", funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research from 2010 to 2013, with cutting-edge research of leading international experts in the field. The editors were part of the social science and historical sub-projects within the "Loss of the Night" network conducted at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the Technical University Berlin and the Leibniz-Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning in Erkner.Josiane Meier is a researcher and lecturer at the Technical University of Berlin, Department for Urban and Regional Planning. She is currently investigating how the revaluation of darkness and the increasing awareness of light pollution are influencing planning practices and paradigms.Ute Hasenöhrl, historian at the the Leibniz-Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning, is author of the book Zivilgesellschaft und Protest. Eine Geschichte der Naturschutz- und Umweltbewegung in Bayern 1945-1980 (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2011). She is currently working on a knowledge and resource history of lighting in the British Empire.Katharina Krause is a research associate at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning. She is currently investigating urban light conflicts and respective policy arrangements. Her broader research interests are sustainable urban planning and socio-technical systems.Merle Pottharst is a researcher at the Technical University of Berlin, Department for Urban and Regional Planning, where she analysed the negative and positive effects of artificial outdoor lighting. Her research interests are in environmental and regional planning, sustainability and nature conservation.

• Part I: Lighting up the City: Perceptions and Practices; Introduction; 1. Out of the Dark: A Brief History of Artificial Light in Outdoor Spaces; 2. The Transformation of American Urban Space - Early Electric Lighting, 1875-1915; 3. From Shakespearean Nights to Light Pollution: (Artificial) Light in Anglophone Literature; 4. The Emergence of Public Nightlife in Nineteenth Century Istanbul; 5. The Rich Potentialities of Light Festivals: Defamiliarisation, a Sense of Place and Convivial Atmospheres; Part II: Dimming it Down: Lighting Conflicts and Regulation; Introduction; 1. Lighting Conflicts from a Historical Perspective; 2. Regulating Urban Lighting – Prospects for Institutional Change; 3. Lighting Master Plans – Status Quo, Possibilities and Limitations; 4. Regulating Light Pollution in Europe: Legal Challenges and Ways Forward; 5. Designating Dark Sky Areas: Actors and Interests; Part III: Counting the Costs: Evaluating Light and Darkness; Introduction; 1. The Economics of Night-Time Illumination; 2. Residents’ perceptions of light and darkness; 3. Improved Visibility of the Night Sky: An Economic Analysis; 4. The Value of the Night Sky; 5. Night lights – an indicator for the good life?; Towards a Brighter Future? – Conclusions for Lighting Research and Policy