Light has the power to change the way we perceive a place – to make it safer, more attractive, and more inviting.
In 2013, Arup Lighting’s Urbanist Core Group launched a study in Getsemaní, a historic neighborhood in Cartagena, Colombia to help highlight the important role night-time lighting can play in urban revitalization. The following brochure offers an overview of the three-phase study.
An UNESCO “world-heritage” site, Getsemaní has gone through many incarnations throughout its history, but in recent decades it became synonymous with drugs and crime. In the early 2000s, as Colombia’s fortunes improved, Getsemaní started undergoing a rebirth. Arup’s Everyday Night-time Design Research Project sought to use urban planning best practices in lighting, sociology, and mobility to enhance growth and connection in Getsemaní. The end result of the study was a pilot installation that demonstrates how lighting can help transform public perception of an emerging neighborhood, while still respecting the area’s unique history and character.
The success of the 2016 Getsemaní pilot installation illustrates why lighting is becoming an increasingly important consideration for urban renewal experts, and gaining more attention from municipalities and developers of urban projects.