Lighting
Light is varied. sunlight, starlight, moonlight
Light is rousing. blinded by the light, turn on your heartlight, you light up my life
Light is inspiring.
Desmond Tutu tells us: Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.
From Charles Dickens: It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.
Desiderius Erasmus extolls: Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.
And in your downtown, you have the amazing power to create it. To control it. To bend it to your needs.
Thinking outside the bulb
Lighting in your downtown can be so much more than standard lights on a pole.
Not that there is anything wrong with appropriate and attractive pedestrian-scaled lighting along your streetscape. But the conversation and creativity attached to lighting doesn’t ”“ or at least shouldn’t ”“ end there.
What do you want to accentuate in your downtown? Where do you want to draw a crowd? What needs to stand out after the sun goes down?
There are numerous sources of lighting that can do all that. Twinkle lights, LED in-grade lighting, accent lighting on fountains, blade signs, sculpture, play equipment, projecting light to create an image on a wall, window display lighting, bollard lighting ”“ these are just a handful of options you can use to create a more lively and dynamic setting with light.
Plugging in
At certain times of the year, your efforts will be made easier if you install high-mounted receptacles on standard pole mount lights for add-on lighting during holidays or any time you wish to add special decorations to your existing light fixtures.
Seeing is believing
In Elizabethtown Borough, Rose Alley is enhanced and safely lit using a few wall mounted fixtures and LED in-grade lights.
A new outdoor dining and gathering space along Zum Anker Alley in Lititz is adorned with a canopy of lights.
Binns Park is a great example of a non-traditionally well-lit space. In the entire park which covers a ¾-acre parcel along Queen Street in the heart of downtown Lancaster, there are no pole lights. Instead, lighting in the park is comprised of façade lighting, canopy lighting, under seat lighting, under wall lighting, and when needed, stage lighting.
Be bold like Saegertown, who transformed a steel bridge which was a daytime icon, into a nighttime show piece in the community, celebrating holidays, Friday night football, and the French Creek passing below.
Star light, star bright, ”¦
A word of caution from www.darksky.org, “Human-produced light pollution not only mars our view of the stars; poor lighting threatens astronomy, disrupts ecosystems, affects human circadian rhythms, and wastes energy to the tune of $2.2 billion per year in the U.S. alone. ”¦ [International Dark Sky Association promotes] one simple idea: light what you need, when you need it.”
