Cities Alive: Rethinking the shades of night explores the future of night-time design and lighting in cities. Urban lighting is moving beyond a focus on functional performance towards a much more granular, location-specific and holistic consideration of possible solutions. It is increasingly recognised as a fundamental component of healthier, safer, more resilient and more enjoyable urban environments.

Rapid advances in lighting, information technology and intelligent systems offer immense opportunities for radical new approaches to urban night-times. The success of lighting in the future, however, will rely on our understanding of the adequate use of this technology. Technology should never be a singular driver for change, but should always react and respond to a clear social or environmental need. Only through understanding how to use these complex sets of technologies in an intelligent way, are solutions that are truly beneficial to citizens, the environment and the economy possible.

This report is a product of collaboration between the Foresight, Research and Innovation and Lighting teams at Arup. It involves a wide range of internal and external experts.