Reducing Light Pollution in Amsterdam

In collaboration with Municipality of Amsterdam, we created a practical plan for reducing light pollution in the city in a way that is socially accepted and scientifically grounded. The plan gives a systemic overview of factors relevant to reducing lights in the city, taking into account ecological factors, social neighborhood dynamics, energy efficiency, technical feasibility, costs and the Municipality’s organizational structure. Based on our work, the Municipality appointed a dedicated “Darkness Manager” and started running a series of pilot projects in the areas we identified.   

• Collaborator: Municipality of Amsterdam

• Date: 2022

• Students: Channah Osinga, Kaya Lucker, Simon Cramer, Marta Stojanovic

• Supervisors: Jelger Kroese, Emiel van Loon

Challenge 

From space, it can be seen that the Netherlands is completely lit up by the amount of artificial light. Within the Netherlands, 5% percent of all light pollution occurs in Amsterdam. Sufficient lighting is important to traffic and social safety, atmosphere and liveability in a city. However, artificial light uses precious energy and resources and can have negative effects on humans and ecosystems (i.e. artificial lights influence biorhythms, and there are associations between artificial light and certain diseases). Therefore, an important goal for the Municipality of Amsterdam is to reduce the amount of artificial light in the city. It is however challenging to simply remove artificial lights once put in place, since inhabitants get accustomed to the lights and fear that removing them will negatively impact the liveability of their neighbourhood. When done right however, reducing the amount of artificial light positively impacts the liveability of a neighbourhood. 

Approach 

This project made an overview of factors relevant to reducing lights in the city and presented a concrete plan to support the Municipality in its first steps towards realizing it. First, we conducted a systematic literature research on the impacts of artificial light and what the values of darkness are. Secondly, we collected possible (technical) solutions to reduce light. Thirdly, we mapped out the bigger system of public lighting to understand the various relations between stakeholders. Finally, we used studies on human psychology to understand how humans react to change to ultimately conclude the importance of positively framed messages about darkness to create acceptance for it. Additionally, we conducted interviews to understand the social situation and the resident’s perspective on light reduction. 

Outcomes 

Based on this research we: 

• Identified a set of locations in Amsterdam suitable for a pilot to reduce city lights.

• For each pilot location, developed a context-aware approach to reduce light.

• Developed a guideline to, based on a set of features, identify other locations to reduce city lights. 

• Developed a universal tool to calculate the potential energy savings associated with light reduction.

• Advised the municipality to appoint a “Darkness Manager” to coordinate the pilot projects.

All of our findings were gathered and presented to the Municipality of Amsterdam and a group of relevant stakeholders to foster long-term application. 

Student team