Cities of Light: Two Centuries of Urban Illumination

This book is claimed to be “the first global survey of urban lighting” (page xxi). As a survey, it sweeps across time (from the advent of lighting technology to the present day), space (with snapshots of over 20 cities), and theme (including art, service provision, and ideology).

It also demonstrates the frequency with which urban lighting projects have been used to send messages about governance, modernization or power, as at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City or the period leading up to the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. Clearly, illumination has significance beyond mere technical provision. As the foreword suggests, “In every case, the meaning of illumination is not a matter of functionality but of culture” (page xx).

The case studies are short (many only a few pages) and contained. For instance, one chapter mentions the tripling of tourists to the Chinese canal city of Hangzhou since February 2009, when a project for nighttime canal lighting was put in place. Another describes how the failures of Lagos’ National Electric Power Authority (nicknamed “Never Expect Power Always”) required residents to seek out alternative energy sources, which has had harmful environmental consequences.

Being contained, these case studies are not connected by overarching narratives. Still, together the chapters show that in some ways the history of lighting parallels the history of urban development. A lighting scheme can be the centrepiece of an urban regeneration project. Or mismanagement of lighting provision can be traced to colonial histories of unequal infrastructure distribution. As described in this edited volume, lighting illuminates both places and ideas.

Further reading:

Figueroa, Aurelie Rochelle (2016, forthcoming), “Efficient lighting uptake among the urban poor: evidence from a Kenyan informal settlement”, Environment and Urbanization Vol 28, No 2, available at http://eau.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/06/14/0956247816647871.abstract.

[Please email the Environment & Urbanization editorial team if you would like a copy of this paper.]

Newsom, Chris (2013), “Can renewable energy turn Nigeria's lights on?”, Sungas Briefing, International Institute for Environment and Development, London, 4 pages, available at http://pubs.iied.org/G03519/?k=lighting.

Book note prepared by Christine Ro