TY - JOUR
T1 - Linking nighttime outdoor lighting attributes to pedestrians’ feeling of safety
T2 - An interactive survey approach
AU - Portnov, Boris A.
AU - Saad, Rami
AU - Trop, Tamar
AU - Kliger, Doron
AU - Svechkina, Alina
N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant number 400/18). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Portnov et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2020/11
Y1 - 2020/11
N2 - Public space lighting (PSL) contributes to pedestrians’ feeling of safety (FoS) in urban areas after natural dark. However, little is known how different PSL attributes, such as illuminance, light temperature, uniformity and glare, affect people’s FoS in different contextual settings. The present study aims to bridge this knowledge gap by developing a model linking different PSL attributes with FoS, while controlling for individual, locational, environmental and temporal factors. To develop such model, the study employs a novel interactive user-oriented method, based on a specially-designed mobile phone application–CityLightsTM. Using this app, a representative sample of observers reported their impressions of PSL attributes and FoS in three cities in Israel, following a set of predetermined routes and points. As the study shows, higher levels of illumination and uniformity positively affect FoS, while lights perceived as warm tend to generate higher FoS than lights perceived as cold. These findings may guide future illumination polices aimed at promoting energy efficiency while ensuring urban sustainability.
AB - Public space lighting (PSL) contributes to pedestrians’ feeling of safety (FoS) in urban areas after natural dark. However, little is known how different PSL attributes, such as illuminance, light temperature, uniformity and glare, affect people’s FoS in different contextual settings. The present study aims to bridge this knowledge gap by developing a model linking different PSL attributes with FoS, while controlling for individual, locational, environmental and temporal factors. To develop such model, the study employs a novel interactive user-oriented method, based on a specially-designed mobile phone application–CityLightsTM. Using this app, a representative sample of observers reported their impressions of PSL attributes and FoS in three cities in Israel, following a set of predetermined routes and points. As the study shows, higher levels of illumination and uniformity positively affect FoS, while lights perceived as warm tend to generate higher FoS than lights perceived as cold. These findings may guide future illumination polices aimed at promoting energy efficiency while ensuring urban sustainability.
KW - City Planning/standards
KW - Emotions
KW - Humans
KW - Lighting
KW - Mobile Applications
KW - Pedestrians/psychology
KW - Photoperiod
KW - Public Facilities
KW - Safety
KW - Surveys and Questionnaires
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096031196&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242172
DO - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242172
M3 - Article
C2 - 33170899
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 15
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 11
M1 - e0242172
ER -
