The importance of lighting in the built environment from a safety perspective

Background: People often experience a feeling of not being safe in public places during the darkhours of the day. That feeling of not being safe is a subjective experience and is individual for everyperson. The natural light has a big impact on how the city is experienced by the population of thecity. Because of Sweden’s geographic location, there are many dark hours of the day over the courseof a year. Artificial lighting therefore needs to be used to compensate for the lack of daylight.Purpose: The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate what different factors there are thatimpact people’s perceived safety. The purpose is also to investigate the lighting’s meaning from asafety perspective.Method: The authors of this study have familiarized themselves with previous research and theorieson the subject. Based on what emerged, the authors have designed a survey that aims to collectqualitative and quantitative data. Data collected through the survey have formed the basis of thisstudy’s empirical data. The study is geographically limited to a specific street located in centralMalmö. The survey took place on three different occasions.Results: From the data analysis, it emerged that lighting is only one of many factors that areimportant for people’s experience of safety in public places. A combination of several factors istherefore required for a place to be perceived as safe by its surroundings. Lighting, human presence,the microclimate of the place, activities on the streets and supervision of the area are some of themain factors that emerged. The results of the study also show that people of the female sex, to agreater extent than men do, generally tend not to feel safe in public places when its dark.Conclusion: The perceived safety is an individual experience that should form the basis for thedesign of a place, in combination with the place’s main purpose. Due to this, it is required that theoutside architect involves the people staying at the site in order to optimize an experience of feelingsafe.Design proposal: Finally, what emerged in the study’s results has been applied as a designproposal for Per Weijersgatan