Lighting Features Affecting the Well-Being of Able-Bodied People and People with Physical Disabilities in the Park in the Evening: An Integrated and Sustainable Approach to Lighting Urban Green Areas

This study focuses on the analysis of lighting in night conditions to explain what lighting in parks should look like and how parks should be lit from the point of view of people’s perceptions. It addresses the impact of the lighting configuration of urban parks on preference, safety, mystery, legibility, and contact with the environment. The feelings of wheelchair users and able-bodied people were measured. The respondents assessed park landscapes presented in visualisations that varied in terms of lighting features and spatial contexts. This research showed, inter alios, that the participants rated evenly lit spaces more highly than those featuring spot lighting. In unevenly lit spaces, the lighting of the surroundings turned out to be crucial import for able-bodied people, while for the disabled respondents, a combination of lighting of the surroundings and of paths was significant. For evenly lit spaces, path lighting is less important for disabled people than for those without disabilities. These insights can help researchers to look at lighting solutions in a more human-centered way and take into account the environment in which they are used. This allows the design of night lighting in parks to be socially sustainable and promotes access to urban green spaces for all citizens. The study emphasises that the provision of sustainable lighting in parks should take into account different social groups, making light a common good.