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Research

Can Lighting be a Tool of Social Discrimination?

Craig DiLouie January 24, 2018

A 2016 study at the London School of Economics and Political Science proposes that the way urban spaces are lighted reinforces inequality by providing visual cues to class segregation.

Mona Sloane, LSE researcher and co-founder of Configuring Light, sums it up: “Lighting can label a nocturnal space as ‘private’ or ‘public’, with housing estates often looking disconnected from the urban areas around them, which can give an impression of danger. Improved lighting could help create news ways of living in these spaces, such as allowing and encouraging children to play after dusk.”

An interesting idea. Learn more in the below video.

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Craig DiLouie
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Launched in 2001, LightNOW covers the rapidly changing lighting world for lighting people. Check-in daily to see new posts by Editor David Shiller, Craig DiLouie, and other experts in the lighting field including consultants and lighting designers. Posts include news items to keep you up to date, short opinion pieces to invite you to consider another point of view, new products every Monday, and links to new research and tools to help you design with light. Also be sure to subscribe to the LightNOW newsletter (free), which is published every two weeks as a digest of articles on the site. We always welcome your feedback, so feel free to comment on any of the stories that appear here at LightNOW. If you are a manufacturer, LightNOW offers a low-cost ad vehicle to reach thousands of specifiers, contractors, reps, distributors, consultants, owners, and other stakeholders in the sales channel. For advertising inquiries, contact Suelynn Shiller. Thank you for visiting, and we hope you find LightNOW useful for your career in lighting

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