Road Lighting and Pedestrian Reassurance After Dark a Review Lighting Research & Technology

Abstruse

Walking as a means of transportation is a key characteristic in sustainable urban design, but few studies have examined the influence of micro-level environmental features, such every bit vegetation and street lighting, on perceived prophylactic and people'due south choice to walk. This study applied a non-explicit approach to examine the relationship betwixt greenery, street lighting, perceived safety, and walking in an urban context. Participants from three neighbourhoods in Malmö, Sweden, took part in focus group discussions concerning neighbourhood qualities related to walking.

A qualitative analysis revealed four inter-related themes relevant for perceived prophylactic after dark: avoidance, entrapment, presence of others, and prospect (visual overview of the nearby environs). The quality of urban greenery and street lighting impacted people's route choices later on dark, and some participants felt compelled to make detours. Entrapment, partly due to unkempt greenery in combination with darkness, contributed to avoidance, whereas the presence of other people had the opposite result. The results bespeak that urban greenery and street lighting must be considered together, since their interaction influences perceived safety and impacts the walkability of the neighbourhood.

Introduction

One important consideration in sustainable urban design is the pedestrian. Walking is a sustainable grade of transportation that contributes to healthy living atmospheric condition on the local level (Wilson et al. 2007; Xia et al. 2015) and benefits public health. Research has considered the touch on of meso-level built surroundings characteristics (such as density, diversity, and design of the built environs) on people'south travel style choices and their level of physical activity (Ewing and Cervero 2010; Badland and Schofield 2005). However, little research has addressed the influence of people's perception of micro-level environmental features, such as vegetation and street lighting, and how these features may interact in influencing the choice to walk as a means of transportation in urban environments (Kim et al. 2014; Park et al. 2015).

Greenery is a valuable office of the urban landscape, with functions of import for human well-existence (Russell et al. 2013; Konijnendijk et al. 2013; Hartig et al. 2014), such as offering opportunities for physical activity and recreation (Kaczynski and Henderson 2007) and potential for restoration (Hartig et al. 2003). Green spaces with species diverseness that offer a identify of refuge and the experience of being in nature afford optimal restoration potential for stressed individuals (Grahn and Stigsdotter 2010). Light-green, open up spaces in a neighbourhood encourage elderly people to walk for both leisure and as a mode of ship (Sugiyama and Ward Thompson 2008).

In the Nordic context (and in other countries at high latitudes), daylight hours are very limited for much of the year. The urban surroundings is perceived differently after dark, and pedestrians depend on outdoor lighting to ensure functional levels of visual accessibility and perceived prophylactic when walking. Lack of, or insufficient, artificial outdoor lighting may plow environments that are inviting during the day into intimidating places avoided after nighttime (Yeoh and Yeow 1997; Nasar and Fisher 1993; Crewe 2001). Some studies have touched on the interplay between urban greenery and outdoor lighting in terms of the potential for restoration after dark (Nikunen and Korpela 2009, 2012; Nikunen et al. 2014), but few studies take examined the role of the interaction between greenery and outdoor lighting in how a pedestrian perceives condom.

The literature suggests that urban greenery and street lighting affect the perceived safety of the surround (Jansson et al. 2013; Maas et al. 2009; Boomsma and Steg 2014; Sreetheran and van den Bosch 2014; Özhanci et al. 2014; Johansson et al. 2011). This, in plough, is linked to how much the urban environment is used for walking (Hong and Chen 2014; Foster et al. 2013; Tiwari 2015).

This written report aims to cast light on the human relationship betwixt greenery, street lighting, perceived safety, and walking in an urban context. The study was office of a multi-disciplinary research project relating to walking and the urban environment, and involved researchers specialised in architecture, traffic safety, and environmental psychology. Focus group discussions apropos neighbourhood qualities in relation to walking were held on site in semi-fundamental neighbourhoods during daylight hours. In these discussions, participants oft and unprompted talked about their perception of condom and how this is continued to urban greenery and street lighting.

Theoretical background

The idea that the perception of safety is influenced by the physical surroundings may be understood from the perspective of human being–environment interaction. The Human Surroundings Interaction (HEI) model (Küller 1991) is a framework for understanding the transactions between the individual and the social and concrete environment. According to the HEI model, the individual's perception of rubber at any given moment is influenced past perceptions of both the social and the physical surround, as well as by individual traits and experiences.

A more specific approach to examining the impact of greenery and lighting on the perception of safety involves an adaptation of the prospect-refuge theory (Appleton 1975). A modified version of the theory (Fisher and Nasar 1992) considers the influence of ecology factors on the perception of condom in urban areas. It argues that people perceive places as less safe if the environment provides potential hiding places for criminals (refuge), while limiting the pedestrian's overview of the nearby surroundings (prospect) and the possibilities for escaping an dangerous state of affairs.

While the prospect-refuge theory focuses on the physical environs, the social–psychological model of fright of crime (van der Wurff et al. 1989) considers both the physical and social environment. This model attributes fear of criminal offense to four psychological factors—attractivity, evil intent, power, and criminalisable space. Attractivity concerns the extent to which people see themselves or their belongings as an bonny target for crime. Evil intent concerns the extent to which people aspect criminal intentions to others, and ability describes the caste to which people believe they tin can deal with a threat or an assault by a criminal. Criminalisable space emphasises identify, fourth dimension, and the presence of others every bit factors describing the extent to which an private perceives a state of affairs equally supporting criminal activity.

To date, research on the bear on of urban greenery on perceived safe has focused on landscape design, vegetation density, vegetation graphic symbol, and maintenance (for reviews, come across Jansson et al. 2013; Sreetheran and van den Bosch 2014). Studies investigating the importance of outdoor lighting for perceived safety after nighttime take either focused on differences in effulgence due to spectral differences betwixt light sources (Knight 2010; Painter 1996), or practical variations of the prospect-refuge theory by treating lighting as a factor impacting the feel of prospect and refuge in the surroundings (Blöbaum and Hunecke 2005; Boomsma and Steg 2014; Haans and de Kort 2012).

Previous enquiry has explicitly asked participants about their perceived safety or fear in relation to outdoor environments (see, for example, Fisher and May 2009; James and Embrey 2001; Loewen et al. 1993; Nasar et al. 1993; Nasar and Jones 1997). Although an efficient way of collecting data, this may inadvertently steer the participants' responses in a certain direction, narrowing the response variation and missing out on unexpected experiences. Fotios et al. (2015) used an alternative arroyo when investigating the impact of outdoor lighting on pedestrian reassurance (defined every bit encompassing both perceived prophylactic and fright of criminal offense) subsequently dark. Without emphasising lighting or using words alluding to rubber or fear, the researchers asked participants to identify characteristics of streets where they would feel, or non feel, confident about walking after nighttime. The interviews were divided into ii parts: general discussions nigh factors that made people feel confident about walking on streets subsequently dark, and a more focused interview using pictures of streets equally visual prompts for discussion. The results from both parts showed the importance of street lighting in pedestrians feeling reassured.

Using the same rationale as Fotios et al. (2015), but in a real-world setting known to the participants, this study applies a not-explicit approach to explore how urban greenery and outdoor lighting bear on the perception of prophylactic, with no prompting of the participants about the topic. A further aim is to investigate how the perception of safety affects how the participants utilise the neighbourhood for walking.

Method

Participants and settings

The study involved 106 participants aged 18–84 years, 51% of whom were female. Participants were recruited through a questionnaire study on daily travel and walking behaviour, completed one year before, in which they had expressed interest in participating in futurity studies (Lindelöw et al. 2014). The participants lived in one of three neighbourhoods: Rönneholm (Due north = 38, 58% female, mean age fifty years, range 18–84 years), Dammfri (N = xl, 52% female, mean age 51 years, range 26–84 years), or Lorensborg (N = 28, 39% female person, hateful historic period 63 years, range 26–84 years), located in semi-primal Malmö (about 300,000 inhabitants), Sweden (Figs. one, 2, 3, iv, 5).

Fig. 1

Source: Lantmäteriet (2018)

Map of Malmö. 2018

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Fig. ii

Source: Lantmäteriet (2018)

Close-up map of Malmö showing the iii neighbourhoods: Rönneholm, Dammfri, and Lorensborg. 2018

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Fig. 3

Part of the path in Rönneholm

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Fig. 4

Part of the path in Dammfri

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Fig. 5

Part of the path in Lorensborg

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The neighbourhoods are considered ordinary, non-landmark residential areas with mid-twentieth-century pattern, without any important urban magnets of their own. Even so, all three neighbourhoods are located within walking altitude of municipal parks, public transport, and shopping facilities. Their building typologies vary: Rönneholm consists of 4–6-storey closed filigree blocks and semi-open building blocks, Dammfri has early on modern blocks with four–vi-storey free-standing residential buildings lining the streets, while Lorensborg comprises modern superblocks with 8-storey residential buildings and lower buildings facing adjacent streets. The vegetation is mainly full-bodied in large and medium-sized parks containing trees, bushes, and grass, only there are also fragmented patches of greenery located within the densely built residential areas (Malmö 2003).

Traffic planning of the neighbourhoods differs in terms of street network layout (Rönneholm: integrated, Dammfri: semi-integrated; Lorensborg: segregated), and the neighbourhoods offer different types of walking environments. The neighbourhoods are located in a role of Malmö where the law-breaking rate is lower than the average for the urban center, too as lower than average compared to other major Swedish cities (Swedish National Quango for Criminal offense Prevention 2018). The pedestrian areas of the neighbourhoods are lit past high-force per unit area sodium lights (Rönneholm, Correlated Colour Temperature, CCT: 2060 K), ceramic metallic halide lights (Dammfri, CCT: 2821 K), and LED lights (Lorensborg, CCT: 4098 K).

Procedure

In each district, the participants first took office in a structured 300-thou walk representative of the pedestrian planning strategy of the district, with on-site assessments at place-specific stops (Johansson et al. 2016, 2019). The structured walks served to focus the participants' attending on the built surroundings encountered while walking (results reported in Johansson et al. 2016). The walks were conducted during the afternoons and early evenings (before twilight) in August and September, during mild conditions conditions.

Immediately after the structured walk, the participants gathered for focus group discussions. A researcher led these discussions, using a semi-structured interview guide containing open questions virtually the qualities of the neighbourhood and invitations to advise how to improve the neighbourhood in relation to walking (see Table 1). The interview questions were used as prompts for stimulating the focus group discussions. The groups were kept pocket-sized (approximately 4 participants in each group) to extract as much unique data equally possible (Fern 2001). The participants could speak freely, and the discussions covered a variety of topics relating to the pedestrian experience. Twenty-iv focus grouping discussions were held, each taking approximately 15 min. The overall process lasted between one and ii h.

Table ane Interview questions used to stimulate discussions in the focus groups

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The study complied with the rules and regulations laid down by the Ethics Committee for the Swedish Enquiry Council (Gustafsson et al. 2011). All participants were informed well-nigh the overarching aim of the study, i.eastward. to explore how the participants perceived their neighbourhood with regard to walking for transport (without mentioning specific neighbourhood qualities related to walking), and nearly their right to withdraw at any fourth dimension without giving an caption. Participants provided written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and personal information was anonymised to retain the privacy of the participants.

Analysis

The focus group discussions were recorded, transcribed and imported into Atlas.TI seven. Based on a sample of 12 interviews, the beginning author conducted an initial coding on a line-past-line ground. All 3 authors then collaborated to discuss the codes and refine the code list, and the outset author recoded iv interviews using the refined lawmaking list. Subsequently a final review, the code list was completed, and the kickoff author coded all 24 interviews.

The coded transcripts of the focus group discussions revealed recurring comments about vegetation and lighting in relation to condom (greenery was mentioned 211 times, lighting 90 times, and prophylactic 121 times). The authors then decided to focus on these iii topics in the assay conducted for this commodity.

The first and third authors' coding was compared for four interviews, to approximate interrater reliability. In line with suggestions past Campbell et al. (2013), the overall interrater reliability was determined by dividing the number of agreements with the total number of coded sentences, for all three codes. Greenery, lighting weather condition and perceived safety were coded 69 (24 + 18 + 27) times in agreement out of the total of 74 (25 + twenty + 29) coded sentences, giving an interrater reliability of 0.93.

The Atlas.TI query tool was used to identify the parts of the interviews in which lighting or greenery was discussed in relation to perceived rubber, and lighting discussed in relation to the appearance of urban greenery after dark. The tool identified greenery and safety xv times, lighting and greenery 22 times, and lighting and prophylactic 43 times.

The paragraphs in which the codes co-occurred were compiled into a new certificate. Co-occurrence was defined every bit the coded sentences being within 100 words of one another, independent of club. The distance between words was chosen through an iterative process, using both greater and shorter distances, and was constitute to capture relevant quotations while excluding unrelated information.

The quotations in the document were analysed for similarities and differences, and the three authors in collaboration categorised the quotations in themes. The quotations were then translated into English language by a professional person translator and validated by the offset writer.

Results and discussion

Four clear themes were identified in the compiled quotations from the co-occurring codes. A mutual theme institute for greenery and lighting was the avoidance of sure areas after night. Participants regarded greenery as a positive environmental factor during the daytime, but frequently reported that they avoided environments with greenery (especially the municipal parks) afterwards night:

It's very dark in at that place. I wouldn't recommend people to go there in the middle of the night. (Participant #02, male person, interview B)

I wouldn't like to go through Rönneholms Park at night, I but don't do it. And so I'd adopt to become between. No, it'southward even so dark and forbidding in that location in fact. (Participant #04, female, interview D)

Then I feel very unsafe in the park. It's dark and, as I said, people don't like to exit afterward it gets night. (Participant #10, female, interview I)

To a certain extent, I agree that this is green and attractive. But I feel more than similar you, that I would never get here when it's nighttime in the evening. (Participant #01, female person, interview A)

Inadequate streetlighting seemed to reinforce the trend to avert the municipal parks afterward nighttime:

And and then there'southward really no lighting on a long stretch of it [the road through the park] there. And I've heard many people say that they absolutely wouldn't dare to go out when information technology's dark in that direction. (Participant #03, female, interview C)

Only there is a department there [in the park] where you tin walk anyway, where in that location's no lighting at all. I possibly avoid walking there when it's dark. (Participant #05, female, interview E)

The avoidance of sure environments afterwards night, and the shift in how greenery is perceived when information technology gets dark, corresponds with research findings from a number of countries, such every bit Australia (James and Embrey 2001), Japan (Yokohari et al. 2006), Malaysia (Mani et al. 2012), Norway (Skår 2010), Singapore (Yeoh and Yeow 1997), the U.k. (Madge 1997), and the United states (Crewe 2001). The results also correspond with the social-psychological model of fear of offense, which suggests that, at certain times, physical and social environmental factors collaborate and make a place seem unsafe and preferably avoided, while at other times the factors are not aligned in a way that would trigger abstention.

An effect of the abstention behaviour expressed in the interviews was that municipal parks switched from functioning as assets during the solar day to becoming obstacles afterwards sunset. For some participants, the avoidance meant minor route changes, while others chose another mode of transportation and/or used busier roads:

But in the evening, I don't walk in the park in that location, but then yous can walk over the road so it's still a bit of a half-park, then y'all've nevertheless got some trees and grass and suchlike. (Participant #08, female, interview A)

Late in the evening I'd rather drive or bicycle on Mariedal [principal road] than here. Because it's. Erm, I exercise that. Information technology's night too. (Participant #06, female, interview F)

Since the municipal parks are quite extensive, some inhabitants had to make meaning detours. This may reduce the attractiveness of the neighbourhood for walking and have some consequences for people'southward use of the environment afterward night and on their choice to walk as a means of transportation.

A 2nd theme was the feeling of entrapment, i.e. not being able to escape from a potentially dangerous state of affairs, which was associated with feeling unsafe. If the greenery was dense and too close to the path, participants felt that this contributed to the feeling of entrapment:

In a higher place all, here's a fence, so y'all've got nowhere to go if it'southward congested or if y'all meet a cyclist or pedestrian. In the other section, there'south a scrap more room to motility to the side. That's almost what I feel is worst virtually this section, that there's a fence and hedge on both sides. Then, there's nowhere to go. In the evening likewise, information technology feels a bit unsafe besides. I don't usually walk at that place in the evenings. (Participant #12, female, interview G)

Participants as well mentioned entrapment as a reason for avoiding certain areas afterward dark. The participants felt trapped, explaining that they lacked an escape route if something were to happen, which reduced feelings of safety:

Then I feel that this stretch, the last bit, it's not a stretch where I'd choose to walk on my own when information technology'south night. And then I take other routes where it'due south more, simply that it feels that you can't get away anywhere if I ended up in an unsafe state of affairs. And then, I've walked in one case or twice on my ain when it was night and evening, simply I wouldn't do information technology over again. (Participant #11, female, interview E)

Narrow and dark. I don't know, I feel mostly unsafe. If it's late in the evening, 11 or midnight, I'm not so interested in walking here. (Participant #13, female person, interview H)

Entrapment is a cistron of the adjusted prospect-refuge theory, and our results support previous findings of the negative issue of entrapment on perception of safety (e.grand. Nasar et al. 1993; Blöbaum and Hunecke 2005; Boomsma and Steg 2014). When an individual perceives an surroundings as having a high level of entrapment, lighting conditions become less important for the perception of safety, while the level of prospect gains importance (Blöbaum and Hunecke 2005). This may exist because a blocked prospect can muffle dangers that would be hard to escape from while the pedestrian is entrapped in the environment. In the focus groups, participants discussed the demand for increased prospect in relation to the stretches where they felt entrapped.

Participants did not only avert the municipal parks; passages with mesh fences and dense greenery shut to the path created a sense of entrapment which, in turn, deterred pedestrians from using them after dark. An important note here is that, in the neighbourhoods of our study, some of the paths with dense greenery are the only option for walking in a certain direction, and avoiding them would hogtie some pedestrians to make lengthy detours.

A third theme was the presence of others, which contributed to the perceived safety and as well seemed to keep environments inviting after dark. The participants highlighted the presence of others, both on the streets and at outdoor cafés, as contributing to perceived safety:

But I don't feel dangerous there, where there are other people walking dogs and it's lit up and at that place's more people moving well-nigh. (Participant #08, female, interview A)

That there are people out and virtually, and at the outdoor cafés and bars, and you don't feel alone or frightened there really. Perchance when it's a chip dark, but non otherwise. (Participant #14, female, interview J)

This is in line with findings from studies on a university campus in Columbus, US (Nasar and Jones 1997) and from the streets of Sheffield, Great britain (Fotios et al. 2015). A possible statement is that at that place is potential for a positive feedback loop, where an improved local environs may increase the number of pedestrians, which in plow may increase the perceived condom of the environment and make it even more inviting for pedestrian employ (see Foster et al. 2010). The presence of others affects the criminalisable space factor of the social-psychological model of fear of crime (van der Wurff et al. 1989) and, along with the environmental context and the time of 24-hour interval, the presence of others determines whether the environment is considered criminalizsble and dangerous. Naser and Fisher (1993) suggested that the presence of others also reduced the feeling of entrapment, by offering the opportunity of getting assist from others if necessary.

Finally, as expected from the prospect-refuge theory (eastward.thousand. Appleton 1975; Nasar et al. 1993), quotations relating to prospect were identified for both lighting and greenery in relation to perceived rubber. Participants expressed that greenery could be a business, with neglected budget resulting in large bushes and excessive undergrowth obstructing the views of pedestrians:

The bushes are really… maybe they should be cut or maintained. Because you don't see each other. Just the contend iii metres high is plenty, and then there's the bushes too. And the vegetation doesn't add annihilation positive, I don't remember. It feels just neglected actually. (Participant #15, female, interview Chiliad)

But if the contend and the hedge had been taken away on both sides, I think the footpath and wheel path would have been perceived in a completely different way. (Participant #02, male, interview B)

For lighting, the participants stated that reasons for concern relating to overview were low levels of lighting and unlit areas:

It'due south become much better since they did a scrap to the lighting in that location. And because so many trees have also been cutting down, it's open in a completely different way. (Participant #16, female, interview B)

Before, a lot could be going on behind the bushes, whatever could exist going on there. Simply everything's been cleared up, they've installed lighting, yous feel safer when you walk here. (Participant #04, female, interview D)

The results signal the complication of pedestrians' perception of safety and bear witness that, after dark, perceived prophylactic is influenced by both by urban greenery and street lighting. Also, the themes seem to be inter-related, at to the lowest degree to some degree (see Fig. half dozen). Urban greenery and outdoor lighting may affect each other direct—greenery may obscure luminaires and shade the environment, and outdoor lighting makes the greenery visible after night. The discussions revealed that greenery and lighting also affected the level of prospect and whether a pedestrian avoided the environs. Participants felt that unkempt greenery contributed to the feeling of entrapment, which in turn was a reason for avoiding the surroundings. Both the presence of others and prospect were said to reduce the feeling of entrapment and increase the perception of condom, due to sufficient lighting and/or well-kept greenery. All the same, if participants perceived the surround every bit dangerous, and then it led to abstention. Avoidance may take many forms: some people avoid going out after nighttime, some may choose other modes of transportation to avoid walking in the neighbourhood, and others may choose alternative routes.

Fig. half dozen

Overview of the suggested relations betwixt perceived prophylactic, urban greenery, outdoor lighting, and the identified themes

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Most of the focus groups raised the topics of greenery (100%), lighting weather condition (75%), and perceived safety (75%). This is noteworthy, since the interviewer did not mention these topics; they were not mentioned during the recruitment process, nor in relation to the overarching aim of the study. All participants lived in the neighbourhood where they walked, and had previously experienced the environs both during the day and after night. The focus grouping discussions were held during the daytime, yet participants often referred to how they perceived the environment subsequently dark.

The focus groups in all neighbourhoods discussed these topics, irrespective of urban planning strategy and the beneath-average law-breaking rate (Rönneholm: greenery 51 times, lighting 24 times, and prophylactic 36 times; Dammfri: greenery 98 times, lighting 44 times, and safe 56 times; Lorensborg: greenery 62 times, lighting 22 times, and safety 29 times). This shows that greenery, lighting weather condition and perceived safe are important topics that influence the general impression of a neighbourhood.

Malmö has the smallest area of green space per capita of all Swedish cities (Statistics Sweden 2015), and so the interplay between greenery and outdoor lighting may exist assumed to play an even greater role for the perception of safety in cities with more than dark-green environments. The participants in Dammfri discussed the topics more frequently than the other participants. This might exist considering the path in Dammfri passed through a stretch of unkempt greenery and mesh fences, which may have triggered the discussions concerning the topics included in this study.

Even though the gender distribution among the participants was more or less equal, women expressed a greater proportion of the comments related to lighting (76%) and perceived safety (69%). The gender difference was less pronounced for greenery (58%). The overrepresentation of women in the discussions regarding lighting and perceived safety probably reflects their greater concern about these topics, which is in line with previous findings (Boomsma and Steg 2014; Paydar et al. 2017; Madge 1997). This highlights the importance of taking female person pedestrians´ needs into account, making cities available for all citizens, and paying special attention to the needs of vulnerable groups in line with UN'due south sustainability goals (United nations 2017).

Conclusions and implications for research and exercise

This study illustrates the complexity of how pedestrians perceive safety, and highlights the need for urban designers to consider the temporal aspect when planning sustainable pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods, especially in northern latitudes where daylight hours are shorter in the winter and most people render home from work or school in the nighttime. Walkways, urban greenery and outdoor lighting must be considered in combination, since their interaction influences the pedestrian feel and impacts the walkability of the neighbourhood. Light-green environments are an essential element in sustainable urban design, due to the environmental benefits associated with urban greenery. Yet, unkempt urban greenery in areas with unsatisfactory street lighting conditions may limit pedestrians' route choices after night and force them to make detours. To make cities accessible for all groups of people, all year around, pedestrians must either be provided with adequate alternative routes, or green environments must exist sufficiently lit and designed with safety in mind.

In this report, unsatisfactory greenery and lighting conditions impacted the walking route choices of the participants, and at some locations constituted an obstacle to the near direct path. This is of import because the overall attractiveness of walking for transportation might exist reduced if pedestrians perceive part of a route as unpleasant or if detours make the trip less convenient (Johansson et al. 2016). In the try to create an inclusive and socially sustainable social club as envisioned in the UN Sustainable Evolution Goals (Un 2017), where the city is to be accessible for all groups of people, both day and night, municipalities need to accost these weak spots to guarantee an acceptable baseline and to encourage people to walk for transportation. An increase of pedestrians may be a self-reinforcing cistron that encourages others to walk, including afterward dark.

In the focus group discussions, women more than frequently expressed concern about lighting conditions in relation to perceived safe. This may be understood if a gender perspective is applied in urban planning, assuming that underlying patriarchal structures implicitly influence the urban infinite and manifest as gender differences in accessibility and freedom of movement in the city (Beebeejaun 2017; Fenster 2005). Urban planners tin therefore contribute to a more than inclusive lodge by taking greater consideration of women's experiences and needs.

Theoretical models on human–surroundings transaction are useful for deepening the agreement of the role of urban greenery and lit environs in relation to the impact of these physical environmental factors on perceived safe. The results align well with the theoretical constructs of the models, and the models complement each other. Through its more detailed approach to the perception of the physical environs, the adapted prospect-refuge theory (Fisher and Nasar 1992) contributes by specifying the importance of the overarching visual impressions of prospect and refuge of the environment. The social-psychological model of fear of crime (van der Wurff et al. 1989) addresses in more detail the social environment, and helps to specify how the perception of other people becomes of import, while likewise incorporating temporal aspects. The temporal aspects are essential for explaining the transformation in how green environments are perceived when day turns into night, and for predicting the circumstances in which the environs will be perceived every bit unsafe.

Appleton (1975) developed the original prospect-refuge theory with regard to aesthetic preferences for sure mural characteristics based on an evolutionary rationale. In line with Appleton's conceptualisation, the prospect-refuge theory may also be applied every bit a tool for environmental pattern, as in the case of Hildebrand's analysis (Hildebrand 1991) of Frank Lloyd Wright'south architecture, where prospect and refuge are suggested to be two of the factors underlying the environmental preference for, and positive emotions evoked by, the interiors of his buildings. In recent years, the prospect-refuge theory has been widely practical with regard to ecology preferences of building interiors and of landscapes, but less then with regard to the urban environment (Dosen and Ostwald 2016). One exception is Galindo and Hidalgo (2007), who found prospect to exist positively related to aesthetic preferences in the urban setting during the daytime.

In an endeavour to quantify the prospect-refuge theory, Dawes and Ostwald (2013, 2014) applied isovist fields, a computational and mathematical analysis of the spatio-visual properties of paths in buildings. This approach has likewise been applied in outdoor settings (Batty 2001; Chih-Hung et al. 2016) and could be used to cast calorie-free on how the physical setting relates to perceived urban design qualities and to the aesthetic quality of an urban environment. Spatio-visual analysis could potentially be a tool for analysing problematic stretches of pedestrian paths, to promote more pedestrian-friendly urban design solutions.

The non-explicit approach taken in this study has the advantage of minimising the risk of response bias and unintentionally guiding the discussions. Still, a more straight approach could exist useful for further exploring the influence of greenery and lighting on perceived condom and on pedestrians' road choices. Overall, in that location is a need to advance understanding of the role played by the micro-level factors of the built environment in walking choices, then that obstacles can be identified, and measures taken to meliorate walkability.

Both technical and human aspects of lighting must be considered in attempts to create pedestrian-friendly environments. It is also important to consider users with special needs (such equally the elderly and the visually dumb) while minimising energy utilisation. National and international standards include measures for the assessment of technical aspects of outdoor lighting (Swedish Ship Administration 2015; CIE 2010) but, to date, in that location is no agreement on how to appraise the pedestrians' response. A broad set of measures assessing the perceptions, subjective evaluations and behaviours of pedestrians should be developed, in society to systematically evaluate the perception of the lit environment and the interplay between urban greenery and outdoor lighting. This calls for empirical studies, both under controlled weather condition and in the field.

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Acknowledgements

This study was carried out within the research projection 'Urban Walking', funded by grants from the Swedish Transport Assistants, the Swedish Research Quango Formas and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency [Grant Number 250–2010-370]. We would similar to thank Dr Pimkamol Mattsson for designing Fig. vi.

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1. Section of Architecture and Congenital Environs, Lund University, Box 118, 22100, Lund, Sweden

   Johan Rahm, Catharina Sternudd & Maria Johansson

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Correspondence to Johan Rahm.

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Rahm, J., Sternudd, C. & Johansson, M. "In the evening, I don't walk in the park": The coaction betwixt street lighting and greenery in perceived safe. Urban Des Int 26, 42–52 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41289-020-00134-6

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• Published: 29 May 2020

• Effect Date: March 2021

• DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41289-020-00134-6

Keywords

• Focus group study
• Mobility
• Pedestrian
• Street lighting
• Vegetation
• Walking

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