URBAN NIGHTSCAPE: The Enhancement of Urban Spaces Using Light Design. (Waterfronts Lighting In Egypt)

Abstract

Researcher Name: Sara Mohamed Fawzi Adam Shahin Thesis Title: URBAN NIGHTSCAPE: The Enhancement of Urban Spaces Using Light Design. (Waterfronts Lighting In Egypt) Degree: M.Sc. in Urban Planning The design of nighttime environments is of critical importance to the economic and cultural vitality of any urban center around the world as it instills the feeling of safety, enjoyment and the functionality of this center at night. Currently, the topic of nighttime urban landscape is widely spread as it affects cities in many ways; the Middle East cities are evaluating the importance of urban nightscape and its effect on the surrounding population. The necessity of considering the visual quality of the civic public space is today of great importance to urban design and management. The more recent work on the urban design and landscape has extended our understanding of the visual experience as it relates to our perception of urban space; modern society has become fascinated with the visual spectacle. There is a great contest nowadays between the world's greatest capital cities to bedazzle the world with the sophisticated illuminations of their civic spaces and iconic structures. Therefore, while urban designs usually use the elements of the urban environment as a set of materials that compose visually structured and unified urban space, the challenge is to look to the qualities of light and advances in technology to reveal and strengthen this unity, thus providing both place promotion and sense of place after dark. This research aims to reach a lighting design criteria table that connects lighting design to the enhancement of public space through using these criteria. This table conducted from literature reviews and examples study.