Without noticing it, people passing you on the street these days all have dying neurons in their brains. The darkness falling over Stockholm this time of the year is depriving us of norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin and this neuronal death is the underlying mechanism behind the darkness-related seasonal affective disorder.
But we struggle on. Supposedly entertaining the logical thought that the less light you have, those few rays of light amongst all the darkness get amplified and gain a greater importance. Unbeknown to the average Stockholmer I think we seize every opportunity we can to gather as much light and joy from the few rays of sunshine we can collect these days and store it in a yet-to-be-scientifically-proven-storage room so we can pull it out in times of desperate need. Like a survival instinct, perfected and passed on through generations of Nordic people. To make room for this Nordic storage perhaps something else had to make way – like the ability to enjoy things like riding a lift with a stranger or interacting in small talk with a neighbour in the supermarket.
Anyway, to combat this lack of natural light there are obviously several initiatives that can be undertaken to enhance the quality of life for citizens. Stockholm City is currently creating a new strategy and a blueprint for the city’s lighting – from street lights and floodlights through to decorative lighting – and the cohesive result will be ready to be implemented by the turn of the year. Anders Hedlund, lighting strategist for Stockholm City explains: “Our basic premise is that lighting is a service to the citizens to make them feel safe and secure. We do have very good and comprehensive lighting in Stockholm, even if there are small pockets we want to address.”
For between three to six months of the year, the city is very dark due to the lack of natural light. How does Stockholm combat this when it comes to the ingredient of lighting in urban planning?
“To illuminate the city we have 150,000 points of light in total. The lighting portion of Stockholm’s energy budget is 50 million kilowatt hours. Since 2005 we have actually been shedding 20 million kilowatt hours by working with new, more effective light sources. But we were actually very restrictive in using LED-lights, initially. We couldn’t get the warm kind of light we wanted, but now the quality is better.”
If you compare the level of lighting in Stockholm to other similar sized cities, how do we stand up against them?
“We actually don’t have any current statistics for comparison but we know we have a rather high level of lighting at streets and pathways.”
Would you say Stockholm City treat the lighting mostly as a tool to guide the inhabitants or also as a means to create a certain nightscape to make our urban environment more inviting?
“Our basic assignment is to keep people safe both on the streets and parkways. The streets has to be lit appropriately – to be able to assess the surroundings you need high-quality lighting. Stockholm has chosen to work with a warm-coloured light with a high reproduction of colour, in contrast to the more orangey light otherwise very common. Then the next step after safety is to create light compensation. We usually do that in collaboration with the property owners. If you look at the buildings in town, the responsibility for the lighting actually falls on the property owners.”
But it’s obviously in the interest of the city.
“Yes, of course. Our new lighting strategy will specifically have a template for buildings and floodlights.”
If we operated with an unlimited budget, what would be possible that you do not do today?
“You would try to help out and have a closer collaboration with property owners, and you would be able to splash out a bit extra on certain areas. After our strategy is in place we will make sure to achieve a balanced lighting. It would require an enormous effort, both time-wise and economically, to achieve the ‘perfect city’.”
How do you work? Do you use lighting designers to work together with urban planners and landscape architects? I’ve heard lighting designers abroad saying they facilitate the intentions of urban planners and landscape architects.
“Property owners occasionally work with lighting designers in various projects. But for us to continue down that track, we need to determine the atmosphere we’re aiming for, and we would know when the strategy has been set. We are traditionally a bit cautious; for example we don’t want anyone to work with coloured lighting on a permanent basis. It’s fine for events and temporary solutions, like Hötorgsskraporna, who have a permit to use coloured lighting a certain amount of days per year. Apart from guiding, the purpose with night light is to portray what the city looks like. It’s not supposed to distort the city in any way.”
Light is definitely not just functional. It can fill many other purposes and its importance cannot be understated. Light kick-starts food chains to provide for all creatures. Light is the companion of choice during prayer. Light is the most important tool of guidance and the invention of fire was man’s attempt to substitute the light of day while fighting the darkness of the night. And it’s often put to good use in communication and in conveyance of messages. Simply put, it does a great deal of good things.
And just like light is one of the most material ingredients within the composition of architecture, it’s of great importance when it comes to urban planning too. Lighting is a huge factor in how we perceive space at night and it can affect our daily lives, mood and behaviour. Good lighting makes a city come alive and encourages social interactions. If we create a better environment people tend to interact better and be part of the social scene at night. On the other hand, take light away from people and we are very limited at what we can do. We live in a location held in a firm grip of darkness for a large part of the year. But perhaps it’s the snow that keeps us sane?
Words: Peter Steen-Christensen
