Light Challenge 2013: how to develop a new concept of street light that reflects the demand of the public?

Transcriptie

1 Light Challenge 2013: how to develop a new concept of street light that reflects the demand of the public? Sustainability, innovation and safety created by light.

2 Alejandro Rodas De Paz 14 March Annafrancesca Triboli 2013 Bauke Bakker Jeroen Ruijter Niall MacKellar Wouter Klaase 2

3 Table of contents Abstract 4 Introduction 5 Brief history of street lighting 6 Method 8 Desk research 8 Field research 9 Results 11 Art and Interaction 11 Innovation 13 Definition 13 Examples 14 Useful and functional 15 Sustainability 16 LED light 16 Park Spark Project 18 Algae lamp 19 Technology 20 Solar energy 21 Occupancy sensors 21 Prototyping 23 Safety 24 What is safety? 24 Color & Brightness 25 Placing 26 Rules & Legislation 27 Focus Points 27 Field research 28 Meeting with the residents 29 Survey results 30 Discussion & Conclusion 34 References 37 Appendix I 42 Transcription 42 Appendix II 51 3

4 Abstract As a MediaLAB Amsterdam team we are participating in the Light Challenge , a competition that has the goal to rethink the lighting system in a specific street, in our case the Agavestraat, a common residential street in the suburbs of Almere. The new light should follow the guidelines of the Light Challenge 2013: it has to be sustainable, innovative and it should include participation of the people. Our project will be based on participation, using the light as a medium to connect people and give value to their urban space. The residents of the Agavestraat are the users of our future concept. In the street live nineteen families. They belong to a common range of the population and they are part of an age group between forty to sixty. They are educated and working families who come in contact with the street in their daily routine. To have a complete and general view of the subject we used different kinds of research methods, dividing them into qualitative and quantitative research. The desk research was structured into a theoretical part, based on literature review, and a more practical part thanks to the development of a 3D model of the Agavestraat. The field research was on the other hand divided in different categories, such as a mini focus group, interviews, observation and a survey. After our research we found out that a lot of ideas have already been developed, but that there can still be an opportunity to create an effective and innovative idea. Combining the important sustainable and innovative perspectives with the social aspect and the information gathered from the street and its residents, it is possible to realize a new product and, at the same time, improve the social environment of the Agavestraat

5 Introduction As a team from the MediaLAb Amsterdam we are competing in the Light Challenge edition The goal of the competition is to think about a new type of lighting for a specific street in The Netherlands. There are some guidelines that every team has to take into account: sustainability, innovation, safety and participation of the residents. Besides these important aspects, we would also like to see if light can be used as a medium to influence people s behaviour. The street that was selected for us is the Agavestraat in Almere. In order to have a general and complete view of the issues in this street, the situation and all the aspects that were involved had to be studied on different levels. In this process it was important to talk with the residents and with a lot of specialists, in order to develop a main research question that gives a full overview of the significant reference points that have to be followed. After a deep brainstorming session and the analysis of all the different perspectives, the focus was put on two important ideas: sustainability and the social environment of the street, formulating our main research question this way: How can we renew the streetlight in the Agavestraat to be more sustainable and meaningful for the residents? To answer this main question, some sub questions have been formulated: How can we create safety by using street lighting? In what way is street light connected to art and interaction? What do we mean with innovative lighting? What technologies are used in the area of creating street lights? How can we involve the residents in the development of the project? How can we improve their relationship with the street environment and with each other? When is streetlight more meaningful to the residents of the Agavestraat? Which best practices have already been done on sustainable and meaningful lighting? What is currently been used in the Agavestraat for street lighting? 5

6 How can we connect smart devices to a public lighting system? Our goal is to find an answer to the main question through a deep research that can help us to solve all the other sub questions. Brief history of street lighting Ever since mankind had discovered fire, it was used as lighting. Imagine we were living in a deep dark cave, light made us see the wall so we could paint on it, see the rocks so we wouldn t trip over them, and above all made us feel save. More safe than whilst in the dark. Today we use it still for pretty much the same reasons, to see where we are going, to see other people and to get the feeling of safety. Around the time of the late middle ages people began to mount their lanterns on their houses. This was on their own initiative. A period later, half way into the 16th century, governments began to make street lighting. They used it for crossings, bridges and busy streets. Although now street lighting was applied, this period still marks a rather dark century. The first street light in Amsterdam was placed in 1544 on the Zeedijk. Many other cities would follow this example. ( Varenna, InfoNu) During the 17th century an important development came along. The inventor from Amsterdam Jan van der Heyden invented a lamp that was fueled by oil. This was cheaper and produced better light. Van der Heyden also made poles for the lamps, the first street lantern. From this moment on the streets of Amsterdam shined and it became an international success. Influenced by the Industrial Revolution the need for more and better street lighting during the night increased. Soon it would be known that the improvement of the oil lamps wasn t strong enough for a whole new kind of street light, fueled by gas. ( Varenna, InfoNu) At the start of the 19th century many cities were ready for a more cheap and more systematic way of street lighting. The gaslamp was the first light to use gas distributed through gas pipes. With this invention serial lighting was made possible. Also an automatic ignition system came along and changed the way we lit our street for good. In Holland the production and installation of gas pipes was a little later than cities as Berlin, London and Paris. In Amsterdam the installation of gas lamps had to wait until almost halfway through the 19th century, 40 years later than the first city in Germany. (Varenna, InfoNu) 6

7 At first there were a lot of complaints about the installment of gas pipes and gas fueled lamps. People were afraid of the gas, they thought it was lethal and it would kill the environment. Also the people had to get used to the roadworks, which took a long time in that period. A third complaint was that serial lighting would be a problem if there was one problem in the net. Autonomous street lighting wouldn t suffer this problem. Also the citizens weren t happy with the idea that the distribution of gas was being done by commercial companies, who now had a certain power over the energy availability in the city. ( Varenna, InfoNu) Not much later, second half of the 19th century, electrical lights began to appear next to the gas lamps. The first electric light was the arc light. Insufficient as it was, with its 6 hours of light per lamp, the incandescent lamp quickly took its place in The First World War made this shift to other lighting systems speed up, caused by a carbon shortage in the Netherlands. ( Varenna, InfoNu) The Second World War would bring the litten Netherlands in a dark period. The German occupation took its toll and the street lighting has to regain strength in the following years. This didn t happen using incandescent lamps, but now the time has come for sodium and mercury lights. These lamps used less energy and would produce better and more light. Ever since then the sodium lamps are the most commonly used lamps. ( Varenna, InfoNu) The period we are now in, is a period being marked by the LED- technology. These Light Emitting Diodes are more energy efficient than traditional lighting systems and are relatively cheaper, smaller, better applicable, have a greater lifespan and for the effort that is being put in the research on LED s nowadays this new light is promising for the near future. ( Varenna, InfoNu) 7

8 Method To make sure we get a good feeling of what is important we conducted thoroughly research to find a solution to the overall problem of the streetlights in the Agavestraat, we started researching about that. The research phase was divided into two parts, qualitative and quantitative research. Most of our sub questions are going be answered via literary review and the rest by interviewing professionals in their field of work. To get a clear view on what the residents want and feel, we conducted some field research by visiting the street several times and editing a survey for the residents. Desk research In organizing our desk research, we found some interesting documents and reports that could help to get a good idea on what is possible within this project and the street in particular. This part was also a good way to get inspired by other projects that were already realized and can be an influence within our concept phase. The methods used in the desk research are: Literature review: to look for articles and documents to see what has already been done in the field of street lighting. 3D Model: to realize a 3D model of the Agavestraat with the modelling software Maya. In this way it is possible to have a realistic and clear view of the street that allows to analyze the possible scenarios that could be developed. 2 Not all the questions could be answered by using desk research so it was necessary to do some field research as well. 2 An image is included into the appendix. 8

9 Field research It was necessary to do some field research to get the residents involved and get a feeling of their concerns and opinions about the streetlights. Because of the fact that they, as a street, volunteered to compete in the Light Challenge 2013 they are willing to participate in coming to an effective concept that provides all the needs of the residents. These are the methods used in this phase: Qualitative Research: mini focused group interview. During our first week of research we had a first meeting with few residents of the Agavestraat. The meeting involved three residents and it gave us the opportunity to ask them their first impression about the street lighting and to deepen some issues related to the current street lighting system. 3 Quantitative Research: survey and questionnaires. Conducting a survey is an effective way to collect information from the residents. The purpose of the survey is to gain insight into the opinion and wishes of the users. Interviews with experts: meeting research experts helped us to organize and structure our investigation. We also met experts in the field of urban design and street lighting who opened us new points of view about these topics. Persona s: a persona is not a specific person, but a user model. This archetypical users are a medium to visualize the need and goals of the real ones, having a general view of the possible scenario and its issues. Observation: Going in the Agavestraat to observe the street environment e residents behavior was part of our research, in order to have a clear idea of the ground our project will be based on. Masterclasses: attending several masterclasses about teamwork, sustainability and light & darkness. We decided to use these methods because they are a straight and effective way to collect information about the current lighting s condition and the residents opinion. The survey helped us to gather feedback from the neighbours regarding to their concerns and suggestions on possible improvements. We went to the Agavestraat to handout the survey to the residents and meet some of them personally. 3 A transcript is included into the appendix 9

10 During the visits to the Agavestraat the plan was to monitor the street situation in order to have recorded data for the next phases. To study the lighting system it was necessary to take pictures of the specific area, in the daylight as well as in the evening. The pictures can help to visualize possible problems present in the area, such as lack of light, or to map the potential dark corners of the street and consider the other urban elements (trees, type of pavement, etc.). Also, during the first meeting with the residents we made a video and audio recording of the entire discussion. This way it was possible to have a clear idea of who the residents are, obtaining their information thanks to a group interview as well as a survey and our visit to the street. The participants of our project are the residents of the Agavestraat, a common residential street in the suburbs of Almere. Nineteen families lives in the street and they represent a common range of the population, belonging to an age group between 40 and 60. They are educated working families, who use the street several times a day in their daily routine. 10

11 Results The qualitative methods that were used were divided in domains of researches that helped us to have a general and complete view of the light as a medium to influence and change the life of a street. For every domain some sample projects and ideas were found. Art and Interaction Light plays an important role in art and public projects. Light affects the life of people on many different levels and for this reason it is an important instrument for artists and architects. In our research we focused on the interactive and playful aspect of light related to people and how light in the public space can affect our daily life. We tried to see if it is possible to merge an art project with a permanent lighting system. Researching on this specific field we discover few important concepts that are useful for our researches. Here a short list of the most important points we want to take into account, together with some sample projects. A. Light can define spaces, creating bright physical boundaries to delineate an area. The ASB GlassFloor is an advanced flooring system made of an aluminium substructure and a glass surface. The light give the possibility to design different perimeters on the floor, creating this way a big variety of spaces at the same time (ASB Glassfloor, pars. 1-2). Arcades by Troikais a site specific installation that inscribes one architectural space within another. The installation create a light framework that change the structure of the space without intervening on that (Troika, pars. 1-3). B. Light gives safety or the perception of safety. Surveillance Light lamp designed by Emanuelsson and Bastian Bischoff, modelled on surveillance cameras. What the project want to underline is 11

12 how safety can also be a perceptive idea and how it is possible to give people that perception only using an object related to the concept of safety (Erington). [e]mission, project by Marcos Zotes (Reykjavik, 2012), uses a projector and a sensor in order to make people reflect on how ordinary surveillance camera operates. Everytime someone passes under the light, the camera turns on, revealing this way its field of vision. Also, the light projected creates a sort of stage within the street, turning it into a urban theatre (Marco Zotes). C. We can interact with light with sensors, remote controls, social media or simply with our performances. Beacon, a kinetic light installation created by Cinimod Studio (London s Kinetica Art Fair 2009). The installation is based on a series of modified siren lights, able to follow the visitors. Thanks to internal sensors, the lights are individually controlled and they can track people s movement through the space (Cinimod Studio). Walk The Light (at the Victoria&Albert Museum, London) This experimental interactive lighting design project creates a band of white light that physically follows the visitor. Using a combination of technologies, including thermal camera tracking and Philips LED lighting mounted on a moving monorail, the light follows the visitor during the corridor where it is placed (Cinimod Studio). Controle.Burble.Remote, a public installation set up by Haque in Barcelona in February Constructed from a set of 140 modular and configurable carbon- fibre units, each unit is supported by 7 extra- large helium balloons. People were invited to interact with the installation using old remote controls to turn on and off the LED light placed inside the balloons (Haque: Design+Research). Limelight: Saturday night is a live public art installation and video work by Sans Façon realized in different cities since For this project two existing street light heads were replaced with theatre spotlight, in order to 12

13 create a stage where passers- by could perform as in a theatrical scenario (Limelight: Saturday night). D. We use to think to light as a common street lamp, but light can be also an element of the urban context. Light drift by Höweler+Yoon Architecture is a temporary interactive lighting installation along the edge of the Schuylkill river, Pennsylvania (2010). The installation is based on a series of lighting elements placed on the land and in the water. Shaped like orbs and equipped with sensors, the light elements react to people s movement, turning on every time someone sit on one of them. Each orbs on land is related to one orbs in the water. In this way people can control the urban environment along the edge, creating patterns and reflecting through light the activity of viewers on the street (Höweler+Yoon Architecture). E. Light can connect people and make them part of a community. Syn- oikia Pittaki project by collective Beforelight in collaboration with Imagine the City, is a street installation made of light fixtures donated by local citizens. The old lamp were hanged in a specific street, creating an unusual and cozy environment. This installation is an example of people s participation in the city s life. Letting them contributing to the realization of the project, they make them part of their city frame, improving this way their relationship with their environment and with each other. Light is not the main subject in this project, but it is a great medium to create social participation (Beforelight). Innovation Definition According to the guidelines of the Light Challenge it is necessary to include the term innovation in the project (Lightchallenge 12-13). What does the term innovation exactly mean? A lot of information about the exact meaning of the term innovation can be found on the Creative Advantage. It can be seen as something that is new, but it can also mean that 13

14 there is a connection with something that already (Creative Advantage). It is about the technical side of a concept, but also about the social side or the marketing side (Mulgan, Tucker, Ali and Sanders 8). Here are some examples: Technical innovation: when the old system to generate a lamp s energy is replaced by a new one. Social innovation: When the municipality uses a new way to interact with the residents who live close to a street light, and give them the opportunity to influence the end product. Market innovation: a new selling- or promoting strategy to present a new street light on the product market (Gans and Stern ). A way to understand the term innovation is to make a comparison with the term invention. Innovation is a realization of change in an already existing system. The connection to the old system is important here; Innovation is the improvement of something. At the same time it can be creative and it can surely be an example of out of the box- thinking, but this is not the same as inventing something totally separate from already existing ideas. An invention is the idea of a system/object that is a radical break with already existing systems/objects. An invention is not applicable yet and is not controlled by property rights yet. It has to be realized, that is to say: it has to be shaped to the reality of that moment (Branscomb and Auerswald 1). Examples To make things more specific, it is necessary to look at the subject of the Light Challenge Project in the Agavestraat, which is of course street lighting. What are examples of innovations in this area? In Nederweert they changed the light bulb and framework of street lights in a creative way, but they kept the same poles (Gemeente Nederweert, par. 6). This shows the essence of innovation: it is a creative concept but old technologies are also used. We now have the famous LED light, that is more sustainable than the traditional light bulbs and it is smaller. An example of the application of LED is the new street lights in the town of Ede that were made in They were 14

15 expensive to install, but their duration is hours of light, so they last much longer than the old street light bulbs (ledlampenkopen, pars. 1-3). The Solar- Gen2 by Philips combined LED light with solar energy (Philips Cairo to Capetown Roadshow pars. 1-10). Here we can see the link that innovation has with sustainability. A real innovation in the area of light now makes use of what a few years ago was called alternative energy: solar energy, wind energy or energy generated by movement. In Toulouse there is a project called Viha, that is about sustainable energy. The developers replaced some regular street tiles with ones that generate energy when people are walking on it. It is placed in a busy shopping street, which means that there are always enough people walking on it to generate energy (Global Cities Dialogue pars. 1-5). It is impossible to make a project like this in areas outside of the city, because there are not enough people walking on the street tiles. Useful and functional The Viha concept shows that when thinking about an innovation it is necessary to always think broader than technology. Thinking on the context means for example thinking on the physical environment, the users and parties like the government and businesses. In the end everything about the context has to be understood by the creator to make the innovation functional: a new concept is only an innovation when it is useful. So a concept with a new technology and a new design is not an innovation when it does not fit to its context. It will function by basing it on the wishes of other parties and by having a clear purpose, like making something more easy for the residents. To take a look at functionality the project by the Danish firm called KiBiSi called street light is a good example. It is a street light that is designed as a tree, and all the branches contain a light. In total there are seven branches, so there are seven lights. The idea is that the street light looks like a tree, so that it can be seen as part of the city s nature (Fastcodesign, pars. 1-4). Apart from the fact that might have aesthetic value and it works on solar energy, the tree does not have a clear function for its users. It might have an aesthetic value, but it lacks effectivity and improvement of light. Since it is a street light, light should be the main purpose. But the lights in this street light have not been improved. There are too many lights in one spot, so the distribution of the light is not effective. 15

16 Sustainability One of the biggest aspects within the Light Challenge 2013 is sustainability. Not only the sustainability of light itself but also the materials that are used to present the light. There are a lot of new technology and techniques the make light more sustainable than they are at the moment. In this paragraph we are going to tell you what we found on sustainability regarding streetlights and give a clear view of what can be relevant for our own project. LED light The most common way to be sustainable is to look at the light itself and try to make that more efficient and less expensive in the long run. So a lot of articles we read where about LED lighting and how that can be more efficient instead of the light bulbs that are used in the streetlights right now. A company which is called Schreder has made a report about some projects they have been involved in. these projects were based in different city all over europe and had the same purpose to reduce the cost and make a sustainable solution to the problems they were facing. one example of their work is a project they did in France in a city called Agde. In the report it is stated that the whole construction gives three times more light than normal and you have to use five times less power to get that amount of light. Next to that it saved up to kwh per year and the costs were reduced to euros a year. In these projects Schreder used high efficiency reflectors which have a 95% reflective coefficient, which represents a substantial gain to the older reflectors (Schreder Group 3-18). 16

17 In the graphic shown above you can see that the energy saving can go up to 80% around midnight. So that shows there is a lot of advantages when it comes to LED lights in public spaces. Another company was involved in a similar project in New York City where they replaced the old lights with brand new LED luminaires that are far more efficient and will cost less money (in the long run) than the old design. For example, the total Kwh NYC uses on an annual basis is 4.32 billion which is around 6% of total use of energy in the city. In 2030 they are planning to reduce the amount of energy that is used with 30%. LEDs use 50 to 90 percent less energy than other light sources while maintaining the same light output (New York City DOT 1-14) Kickstarter has also a lot of projects concentrating on LED light technology. A project which got easily funded is the NanoLight a new LED light bulb. The NanoLight generates over 1600 lumens, equivalent to a 100W incandescent light bulb. The bulb is not only efficient but it is also a lot brighter (Chu, Gimmy, Tom Rodinger, Christian Yan). 17

18 Comparative between old technology and LED As you can see in the image shown above, one NanoLight is equal to 30 normal light bulbs and the electric cost are extremely low. This means that this technology can be very useful voor our own project when it comes to sustainability. Park Spark Project Because we think it is also relevant to not only concentrate on the light itself but also concepts that are connected to sustainability via streetlight. One of those project is the Park Spark Project. The idea of this project is to transform dog waste into energy that can light all the lights in the park (Mazzotta). 18

19 The Park Spark project is based around introducing a Methane Digester into public parks to collected dog waste and transform it into Methane. Here the Methane produced by the digester is being burned in the form of a lamppost for light. Methane Digestion is a very simple yet completely mystifying technology. It gets even more interesting when you learn that burning its product (methane) is good for the environment and can actually earn you carbon credits. In the infographic shown above you can see how the process works. First you need dog waste to make sure you can produce Methane. By stirring the mixture you make sure that the Methane will rise to the top and therefore will separate from the rest. The next step is to burn that Methane to create energy that can be used to light the whole park. That way you make it easy to get rid of something (dog waste) that pollutes the park and create a sustainable and efficient way of lighting a public space (Mazzotta). Algae lamp The last interesting project would be the algae lamp that can absorb CO2. Pierre Calleja, pioneer and CEO of Fermentalg, has discovered a way to use algae as an energy source. These algae can transform CO2 into energy that give enough power to light a lightbulb. This is not the first person that came up with a sustainable lamp that uses algae (Starr). Mike Thompson is an artist who created a lamp that uses algae and can be controlled with your breath. 19

20 Scientists from Yansei and Standford University discovered a technique by where 30- nanometre wide gold electrodes were inserted into the photosynthesising organs - chloroplasts - of algal cells. This drawed a small electrical current from the algae during photosynthesis. This discovery can be a huge advantage in building energy efficient products. Plant life such as algae will become attractive energy sources. Mike Thompson has build a product called Latro that uses this technique. In order for this lamp (algae) to work there are some basic things it needs: Sunlight, carbon dioxide (CO2) and water. Breathing into the handle of the lamp provides the algae with CO2, whilst the side spout allows the addition of water and release of oxygen. Placing the lamp outside in the daylight, the algae use sunlight to synthesize foods from CO2 and water. As shown in a instruction video you have to (re)fill the lamp with water to make it work. The lamp is provided with a light sensor that monitors the light intensity. This means that this sensor will only permit the leaching of electrons when the lux level passes the threshold. The energy which is produced is stored in a battery and can be called upon during hours of darkness (Thompson) Technology Nowadays there is a large variety of renewable energies and types of sensors, which are being constantly improved using state- of- art technologies. They can be applied in the concept for Agavestraat, as well as a source of inspiration for new ideas. 20

21 Solar energy Sunlight is a relevant factor for urban planning. For instance, the orientation relative to the Sun has been traditionally used for passive solar techniques, that is, the architectural design made in order to take advantage of the local climate (Doerr 2012). By contrast, active solar technologies are those employed to transform solar energy into another form of energy, usually heat or electrical energy. The conversion is usually made by either photovoltaics or concentrated solar power. There are also other techniques such as luminescent solar concentrators or dye- sensitized solar cells (Wan 2004). The use of LED light and solar energy has been covered in severals projects (Fathi 2011; PrasanthYalla 2013). Since this type of light is highly efficient and it is becoming more widely used, the integration with it and solar panels in traditional lamps has been already successfully researched (Jamison 2011). It means that this concept is not new, therefore the innovative goal is difficult to accomplish. By contrast, it implies that the technology has been improved during this time, providing more efficient and reliable solutions. Last decade, there was a documented failed experience of implementing solar energy in public lighting systems in the Netherlands [reference needed]. One of the main problems is the low number of hours of sun, so at midnight the lamps were not capable of providing more light for the rest of the night. Occupancy sensors An occupancy sensor is a lighting control device that detects occupancy of a space by people and automatically turns the lights on or off. Nowadays, commercial outdoor motion sensors cover until almost 270- degree field of view and perform reliably in all weather conditions. This sensors use different technologies to detect the presence of people in a space, such as passive infrared (PIR), ultrasonic and dual- technology (DiLouie, 2007). 21

22 PIR Sensors - They sense the difference in heat emitted by humans in motion from that of the background space. - Require a direct line of sight. - They have limited sensitivity to minor movement at distances typically greater than 15 feet. - Most sensitive to movement laterally across the sensor's field of view, which can be adjusted. Ultrasonic sensors - They use the Doppler principle to detect occupancy through emitting an ultrasonic high- frequency signal, sense the frequency of the reflected signal, and interpret change as motion in the space. - Do not require a line of sight and instead can see around corners and objects - Effective for low motion activity, with high sensitivity to minor movement, typically up to 25 feet - Most sensitive to movement to and from the sensor, which view cannot be adjusted. PIR sensors are most suitable for smaller, enclosed spaces, places where the sensor has a view of the activity (ceiling- and wall- mounted sensors), outdoor areas and warehouse aisles. Incompatible application characteristics include low motion levels by occupants, obstacles blocking the sensor's view, or mounting on sources of vibration. Comparative between PIR Sensor and Ultrasonic sensors Ultrasonic sensors are most suitable for open spaces, spaces with obstacles, restrooms, and spaces with hard surfaces. Incompatible application characteristics include high ceilings (greater than 14 feet), high levels of vibration or air flow (which can cause nuisance switching), and open spaces that require selective coverage. Dual- technology sensors employ both PIR and ultrasonic technologies, activating the lights only when both technologies detect the presence of people, and requiring either one of the two technologies to hold the lights on. This is done in order to reduce the possibility of false- on and false- off, respectively, so this sensors are applied where a higher degree of detection may be desirable. A leading cause of application problems is improper coordination between required coverage area and required sensitivity. In a large space, it is recommended to partition the lighting load into zones, with each zone controlled by one sensor. When creating zones, sensor coverage should overlap by 20% [4.1]. 22

23 Prototyping In an experimental experience using occupancy sensors in LED outdoor parkings and compared it with another locations [4.2]. The percentage of energy savings achieved from sensors was a 37% (the half than in a underground parking garage), and there were false- positive signals encountered, something that happened too in another installations of the research. Employing similar products in exterior applications can result in dead zones, that is, large spaces where sensor coverage is desirable but not possible with the existing detector sensitivity. The greater the distance between sensors, the more (and larger) the dead zones that arise, which in turn increases the likelihood that the system may not adequately respond to movement within the target space. According to the guidelines of the Light Challenge, only the winning concept is implemented at the end of the contest. However, as part of the MediaLAB, we have to build a working prototype of our idea. Thus, this research also covers what options are available for this purpose. Arduino. According to their website, Arduino is an open- source electronic prototyping platform allowing to create interactive electronic objects. There is a wide variety of projects done with Arduino, from small amateur experiments to high- performance professional projects. This technology has been also used for research purposes as a low- cost hardware for a lab kit (John Sarik 2010). Solar Pocket. This small solar are made with long- lasting solar polyurethane or laminated glass. This project was supported by crowdfunding on Kickstarter (Fehrenbacher 2012), and now the startup sells a kit capable of producing between 6-12 panels, which is enough for a prototype. They state their microsolars panels have a lifetime of a decade, while in traditional microsolars this lifespan is two years. 23

24 Comparative between traditional microsolar and SolarPocket s panels Safety What is safety? Safety is relative. It is a term which can be interpreted in different ways. Basically, what it actually means is being protected from potentially dangerous situations. These situations can vary from physical to economic, from mental to emotional. The definition the Oxford Dictionary gives is the following: the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk or injury. There are different categories of safety. First off there is a normative safety. This is the kind of safety a product or design is ought to have, as the standard. Second, is the objective safety. This is the actual protection from or absence of danger or dangerous, risky, hazardous situations. Third, the perceived safety or feeling of safety. This feeling refers to 24

25 the level of comfort of users. Last of all there is a term which is nowadays commonly used in context with safety: security or social or public safety. This kind of safety describes a risk of harm due to criminal acts. ( Oakes, Hartog et al.) All four kinds of safety are completely different but have some overlap as well. For example, one might feel safe, while in reality he or she is not. A product might look safe but actually doesn t live up to the safety standards causing it to be unsafe. People in general choose security or social safety over objective safety, if one looks at the more extreme reaction on a murder than on a deadly car crash. Color & Brightness Before we start on light and color we have to make sure we understand waves. In this case: electromagnetic waves. Waves have high and low points. The length between these points is called the wavelength. How long the wave is, will determine how much energy it has. The shorter the wave, the more energy it has. The vision we have are solely the waves and wavelengths our eyes can pick up, the visible spectrum. Light travels through the air in waves. These waves are formed by photons, pieces of energy particles. Color and light are invisible for us. We can only see what is being reflected back into our eyes. The light from the sun is white. The color we see in an object is the only color that is being reflected into our eyes and brains. The light we can see, reflected, is only a small part of the EMS, the electromagnetic spectrum. Our eyes can adjust to different colors and different levels of brightness. The visibility of some colors might cause other colors to be less visible. Also, instinctively our body reacts to different colors. When we see blue light, for instance, we tend to get more awake. Our instinct gets reminded of the light in the morning. When we see red we tend to feel extreme emotions like love, pain, anger etc. because it reminds us to blood. The perception of different colors can not only be influenced by our instinct, also by our gender, age and culture. (Shevell, 2008) 25

26 The chart below gives perceived meanings of different colors in the US Red Yellow Green Blue Pink Violet/Purpl e Lust (S)[24] Jealousy (S)[24] Negative Issues (F)[25] Excitement (S)[22] Love (S)[24] Competenc e (S)[22] Happiness (S)[24] Good Taste (F)[24] Envy (S)[24] Masculine (S)[24] Competenc e (S)[22] High quality (F)[24] Corporate (F)[24] Source: Wikipedia/Color Psychology Sophisticati on (S)[22] Sincerity (S)[22] Authority (S)[24] Sophisticati on (S)[22] Power (S)[24] Brown Black White Ruggednes s (S)[22] Grief (S)[24] Sophisticati on (S)[22] Expensive (F)[24] Fear (S)[24] Happiness (S)[24] Sincerity (S)[22] Purity (S)[24] Colors can also have an influence on how people perceive their surroundings. Different sources of light can affect how the colors of objects are seen. The color of a specific object may be different in natural sunlight than seen under the light of a incandescent light bulb. Light colors may seen more orange and dark colors may come out even more dark. This is caused by the material that reflects the light. Some light colors get absorbed while others Color and light of an object can affect how one perceives its positioning. Objects under one uniform light color tend to be better visible looking at the three dimensional shapes. Placing The placing and position of lighting is essential for traffic situations, especially concerning safety. The street lights are not only functioning as a tool to see the road in front of you. They also carry the function of showing you which way the road goes, long before you can see the actual road. If there are too many lights it can be distractive, which is very dangerous in traffic. Too little lights causes bad sight, which is also dangerous. The human eye can adjust to brightness, but not instantly. Placing the light high or low can also affect safety a lot. When the lights are too low, light will shine in to ours eyes which can distract us. When the light is too high people won t be able to recognize each others faces on the streets. In different situations different placing and positioning of lights are used. In the example of the Naerdal tunnel in Norway the placing of light the position and color keeps you from falling asleep or have panic attacks. This tunnel in Norway is the longest 26

27 tunnel in the world with a length of over 25 kilometers. When lights are placed on a wrong distance from each other, driving through it would cause a visible rythm that can get you in a state of rest. People can fall asleep much faster and this would be a catastrophe, imagining the end of the tunnel is approximately 12 kilometers away. To prevent people from falling asleep the engineers of the tunnel didn t only look at the placing and positioning of the normal light in the tunnel, they also made stops every 6 kilometers, dugged out caves colored in bright blue light. People can rest here when the ride gets too rough. (Faenasphere) Rules & Legislation The city of Almere has set a few focus points and guidelines that lighting should apply to in their town. Underneath we'll explain these point and the guidelines that we need to take into account with the development of the new lighting. Focus Points The four focus points of the city of Almere are: Social security, traffic safety, well being and sustainability. In the following document each point will be explained in detail. Social security In the view of social security public lighting should make it possible that people can recognize each other from a reasonable distance. Next to recognize people from a distance, people should also be able to recognize different colors. The light level and the position of the lamp should be determined on the basis of the guidelines of the Police. In addition, there could be specific requirements depending on the situation. In the case of the Agavestreet this is not the point. Traffic safety The road has to be illuminated in such a way that the situation in the direction of travel is oversee- able. The road users must be able to see the course of the road and notice side roads in time. This is especially important in complex traffic situations such as roundabouts and crossings. This is because the light of the car only lights up a small part of the road and you cannot see the course the road takes. The Agavestreet is a quiet street so the focus will 27

28 be mainly on safe parking and seeing far enough for corners and pedestrians crossing the street. Well being Well being refers to the general atmosphere in the street or to promote the special character of a public space. Public lighting has an important role to let the public space reach its full potential. The special character of a place can be stressed or emphasized by public lighting. For the realization of a more decorative oriented lighting installation, the quality of functional lighting remains the starting point. The Agavestreet has a quiet character its breaths a homely atmosphere so the street lights should emphasize this. Sustainability The city of Almere holds sustainability in high regards. They made a policy document about how to deal with energy and be more sustainable. The energy consumption of municipal buildings and facilities, of which the municipality has to pay the bills herself, is for the biggest part made up of the public lighting accounts. Savings in the public lighting therefore deserve attention. The public lighting energy can be efficiently handled by low- energy light bulbs, efficient fixtures and electronic ballasts. Also the light requirements on different points of the day may vary. Guidelines The most important finding in this area is that: there are NO laws regarding public lighting just guidelines. The guidelines differ from the amount of light a bulb has to put out to the way the lights shines, horizontal or vertical. Field research Besides desk research we also did field research where we included the user in our research to get a feeling of their issues concerning the street lighting. We ve used several methods that can give us a clear overview of all the issues and possible solutions the residents have. 28

29 Meeting with the residents In the first week of this project we had an expert meeting with some of the residents of the Agavestraat. This meeting was a good way to get to know what kind of people were living in the street but mostly to hear what their complaints were with the lights. Just three representatives of the street were present at the meeting. These were really excited to contribute in this project. In this meeting we held a small focus group in order to get an idea of the bottlenecks there are in the Agavestraat. In this paragraph we will give you a summary of the focus group with all the important things that has been said. If you walk through it later tonight... I think you will not survive! The residents were addressing that the lights are not placed correctly. Some residents have too much light that shines in the bedroom and others say that there s too little light. They were telling us about the two alleys that are at both corners of the street. The fact that s there s no light gives them a feeling of being unsafe. The alleys are connected to their back gardens and are mainly used to park their bikes or store there garbage bins. That means that these pathways are used pretty often. I have the feeling that if something happens everyone will help you. The residents told us that they have a good relationship with each other and that they have the feeling everybody would be willing to help each other in times of need. That gives them a feeling of social cohesion and safety. Facebook is a big mediator in this social cohesion is the fact that some residents are connected via facebook with each other. The current lighting is not adapted to the required light output and varies unevenly within the street. ne of the biggest issues the residents addressed was about the unevenly placed lanterns in the street. Besides that they were talking about if it necessary to keep a constant amount of light the whole night long? They feel that it is not necessary to do that because as a user you have different needs at different moment during the night. Another point they wanted to address was the fact that the light could a more warmer feel to it. Replacing the cold white light with a much more warmer orange one. How much light do you actually need in a day? With the different seasons. Also think about safety. 29

30 They were really interested in the sensor technology and how you can implement that into the street light. The usage of smart devices is also something they find interesting. The residents also referred to the fact that we should take into account that as a resident of the Agavestraat there are different points of view depending on where you live. That is something we should definitely look into. Survey results For the residents who were not at the first meeting we decided to make a survey to ask them some general questions (their age, education and work situation). We ve asked these questions to get a feeling of what kind of people live there. In total 7 out of 19 resistens have filled out the survey. First of all we wanted to know what their gender was and the ratio is 43% female and 57% male. The ratio of the residents and their gender The next question was referring to their age. 43% told they were between the ages of 50 and 59 and 29% between 40 and 49. One resident is between 30 and 39 years old and another one 60 years and up. 30

31 In the next question we asked them what their highest education is that they have finished. The majority with 71% told us that HBO is the highest finished education followed by MBO and University with 14%. We were interested in their work situation because we wanted to know at what time they use the street in their daily actions. We asked them if they work from home, go to work or if they are unemployed. 71% answered that they go to work followed by working at home and being unemployed with 14%. We were also curious about the amount of light and if it should be increased, reduced or stay the same. 43% wants to increase the light and the same number wants the light to stay the same. Only 14% wants the light to be reduced. We were really interested to know what the residents thought of the current lighting in the street so we asked them to grade the current lighting. The average came down to a 5.9. People were very divided with their answer on this question. 43% wants to increase the light and the same number wants the light to stay the same. The four aspects that we find important in designing street light (safety, design, innovation and sustainability) In our desk research we came across four aspects that we found important for our research and the overall project. These aspects are safety, design, innovation and sustainability. We wanted to check how important these aspects are to the user (the resident) by giving them 31