Abstract

Lit environments in the cities that many people live and work need to be coherent and sustainable. This has led to the development of a variety of urban lighting master plans internationally, but mixed results have been seen in terms of their implementation and impact. We suggest a template for urban lighting master plans that has the potential to produce sustainable solutions for urban lit environments. Our template has been devised after an analysis of many existing international examples including Lyon, Vienna, Gwangju, Toronto and Sydney. These examples incorporate elements relevant to sustainability, including energy efficiency, maintenance, implementation, and environmental impact (light pollution and protection of flora and fauna). These elements have been used to inform the construction of the template. The dissemination of this template to stakeholders allows the possibility of an improvement in the coherence and sustainability of our urban lit environments *An urban lighting master plan is a strategy document that organises and defines criteria for urban lighting, addressing the nighttime image of the city and the resulting social, economic and environmental concerns.