Assessment of the impact of street lighting on usage activity of pedestrian traffic spaces on the example of the square in Saint Petersburg

Abstract

Lighting is one of the key factors in ensuring the maximum flow of people in traffic spaces. The choice of lighting settings determines pedestrian comfort and safety, which defines the choice of pedestrian’s route. The growth of cities is the reason for finding solutions to the optimisation problem of the lighting settings of traffic spaces to reduce energy costs and ensure comfort and safety of pedestrians. Solving the problem of adaptive lighting requires experimentation. The experiment conducted in the square in Saint Petersburg showed that the shortest routes to the most remote points of the square are in great demand among pedestrians. When the level of illumination of lamps changes by 1-2 steps, a decrease in the colour temperature to 3200 K has the strongest influence on the choice of pedestrians. The preference for a route with normal and reduced to 3200 K temperature varies depending on the day of the week.

Ways to study changes in pedestrians’ behaviour in the artificially lit urban outdoor environment

“…The absence of outdoor lighting or its poor quality seems to be a significant barrier to active lifestyle in a general city scale and can alter the pattern of pedestrian movement because of route and travel mode choices. To the date, articles which investigate how certain lighting variables influence the walking patterns are limited, although there were several findings suggesting that average illuminance on the pavement and the colour temperature of a light source tend to influence route choices [39,40]. The reasons behind the changes in walking behaviour can be largely attributed to decreased perceived safety and reassurance, but also to perceived restorativeness, better visibility and subjective preferences.…”

“…Besides, the study [31] concluded that students' preference of the brightest lit route resulted in more foot traffic relative to other routes. Additionally, it was found that a decrease in the colour temperature of ambient lighting from 6500K to 3200K reduces the comfort level of pedestrians, as well as that colour temperature had the strongest influence on the choice of a route by pedestrians, compared with dimming [40]. Lastly, the use of targeted lighting design and visual cues such as projected light or chasing light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, had a potential to influence people's movement and behaviour [41,42].…”

“…There were both quantitative and qualitative approaches to study pedestrian behaviour which can relate to walking. Firstly, the total number of pedestrians who use the site can be recorded automatically by traffic counters [3,4,5] or by direct observation (e.g., a gait-counting method) [6,7,23,40,42,67] for specific periods of time. Afterwards, count data collected for after dark conditions can be compared with daylight values by using the biannual daylight-saving clock changes approach 1099 (2022) 012007 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1099/1/012007 6 [3,4,6] or the whole-year approach [5].…”

“…Afterwards, count data collected for after dark conditions can be compared with daylight values by using the biannual daylight-saving clock changes approach 1099 (2022) 012007 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1099/1/012007 6 [3,4,6] or the whole-year approach [5]. To compare the usage of various artificially lit spaces or to evaluate changes after the lighting installation improvements, it is possible to implement real-time field observations [7,23,40,67] or to analyse footage from fixed cameras [42]. These counts can be further used for the creation of the generative natural movement patterns [23].…”

The Provision of Public Street Lighting Based on Risk Mitigation for Energy Efficiency and Environmental Protection

“…Residential areas that are provided with more lighting can reduce crime significantly,with the minimum outdoor crime index at night falls by 36% (Chalfin et al 2019). Optimal lighting on highways will influence city growth because it will ensure pedestrian comfort and safety and reduce electricity expenditure (Bystryantseva et al, 2020). There is a positive relationship between road lighting and pedestrians' feeling of safety (Svechkina et al, 2020).The ever-expanding urban landscape, characterized by rapid population growth and urbanization, has led to a surge in energy consumption, particularly in street lighting systems (Mathaba and Manyake, 2023).…”