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ALAN Conference Series

ALAN 6 will take place from 16-18.06.2020 in Lleida, Spain.

Night Sky Data to the People!

A new website presents citizen science data

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Our touring exhibition with 15 posters can be borrowed for events!

'Loss of the Night' App

The 'Loss of the Night' app measures sky brightness! Take part in a world-wide citizen science project that measures star visibility and light pollution. The app is free!

City Night Time Lapse

This growing collection of time lapse videos of nights in urban centres provides insights how city lights change throughout the course of the night

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SP04: From lighting to enlightenment?

A socio-political analysis of the situation to reduce light pollution in Berlin-Brandenburg

Subproject 04 was carried out at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning (IRS) and at the Institute for Urban and Regional Planning (ISR) at Technische Universität Berlin. It investigated the social and political conditions and potential courses of action to reduce light pollution in the Berlin-Brandenburg region.

On the one hand, this project required profound knowledge on the social functions of artificial lighting and respective actor interests and on the other, a detailed study on the existing institutional arrangements.

The stakeholder analysis provided information on how the various actors perceive and assess public lighting differently according to their interests and needs. The focus was on the questions whether and which problems are associated with artificial lighting and how far stakeholders are willing to reduce light pollution. The research focussed not only on those actors fundamental to the production and functioning of lighting systems (lamp manufacturers, energy suppliers, investors, advertising agencies, urban planners, architects, etc.), but also on critics of light pollution (environmental groups, ecologists, residents, hobby astronomers etc.).

Furthermore, the subproject analysed the institutional arrangements related to artificial lighting in public space. This included an assessment of the regulations and standards, organisations and forms of financing.

In doing so, the research aimed to trace common sets of interests and alliances apparent in debates on the subject in the region of Berlin-Brandenburg and to assess how existing institutional arrangements could be adapted to promote action towards more ecological and healthier lighting systems.

SP04 closely cooperated with the historical SP03 and SP05, in which the costs of the loss of the night were evaluated.

Scientist was Katharina Krause and Josiane Meier
Leader of subproject is Dr. Timothy Moss

Within the subprojects TP04 and TP05 a survey among residents was carried out accompanying the retrofit to LED of the public lighting in three study areas. The focus of this study was to look at the public perception of light and darkness and their functions. Furthermore, the retrofitting process was examined.

Scientists were Anja Besecke und Robert Hänsch.

Find links to the most important publications at our site Literature & Links.