Editorial

摘要

As was recently demonstrated by a recent court case where a young woman sustained life-changing injuries when she walked into a bollard (Hidden consequences, p8), it is vital that public spaces are adequately lit. That is a function of good exterior lighting - that people can safely and securely navigate the streets at night. However, in an increasingly litigious culture, there is a danger in lighting as in other fields that overengineering and overcompensation creeps in. Someone recently expressed the opinion that the award-winning scheme for King's Cross Square was 'too dark' from this point of view, despite the fact that people are flocking to and lingering in what is a very carefully considered and pleasantly lit space (which also met some very stringent criteria). Legal considerations should clearly inform schemes, but fear of litigation should not drive lighting design. The human race has managed to evolve to this stage of its development without, for the most part, black and yellow sticky tape on every potential hazard. Overlighting and excessive uniformity equally despoil the environment.