The World Lighting Journey is a photo library of nightscapes and lighting environments from cities worldwide. Lighting Detectives hopes this database will be a catalyst for future discussion on urban lightscapes and local lighting culture. Lighting Detectives encourages all web viewers to send nightscape from your hometown to add to our ever-expanding photo library.

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Photo by: SHOMEI TANTEIDAN
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GLOBAL RESEARCH

City Night Survey – Alaska

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2024.02.06-02.12 Masafumi Yamamoto + Yuki Ito We visited Alaska at the beginning of February. The purpose was to investigate the light environment in the Arctic under the theme of ‘Mother Nature’, focusing on urban areas, living environments, Eskimo life, and the wilderness. In this study, we stayed in Anchorage, the largest city in Alaska, and Fairbanks, a citysurrounded by nature. In Fairbanks, we stayed at a lodge in the mountains and observed the northern lights. ■Arctic City After noon in Fairbanks, a city as close to the Arctic Circle as you can reach. The weather is clear. The sun has risen close to the horizon and is about to set. Houses and trees cast long shadows on the ground. It is a beautiful scene, as if I had dipped the tip of my paintbrush in dark blue watercolor paint and carefully traced a stroke on a white canvas covered with snow. The temperature here is minus 20°C (68°F). Still, I can feel the warmth of the sun on my skin. The temperature can reach minus 40°C (-40°F) during the harshest season, while the four seasons are rich in variety. The temperature drops even further when the wind blows. This is the kind of Alaska I wanted to visit. The flora and fauna live in such a harsh natural environment. Human life right next to them. We would like to investigate the lighting culture while unraveling the reasons for this. ■Closing…

BARCELONA, Spain

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Barcelona is a city of monuments, whether driving or walking, these unforgett- able symbols of Barcelona are everywhere. At night, the lights of the city further jog one’s memory and create distinctive perspective projections. Streaks from xenon lamps radiate from the top of the Nacional Palace leaving a graphical pattern in the sky. A symbol of Barcelona, the unfinished Sagrada Familia. Shadows at night, further increase the impact of this cathedral. Approaching Place Espanyla from Nacional Palace .

TOKYO : KAGURAZAKA

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Modern Kagurazaka still conveys the atmosphere of its once flourishing Edo Era streets. Old Japanese restaurants and bars line the narrow alleyways and with softly glowing lantern light and welcome signs to complete the scene, one forgets that this is Shinjuku Ward in the middle of Tokyo. In this historical neighborhood warm lantern light is all but a natural presence. Compared to the white lights of Ikebukuro and Shinjuku glowing brightly in the distance, Kagurazaka is submerged in darkness. Buildings in Kagurazaka are lower and lower color-temperature light also peaks out from the many alleyways. Kagurazaka Street, running down the center of this neighborhood, is the only really bright spot, except for the lights reflecting off the canal along Sotobori Street. A prized neighborhood for shopping and entertainment during the Edo period, the historical Kagurazaka Shopping Street is a 700 meter long living time slip. New and old shops are jumbled together along the street with specially designed, lantern-like street lights placed at intervals along the edge of the sidewalk. From Kaguraza`s main street several narrow alleyways lead to the interior of the neighborhood where the scale of lighting is downsized to human proportions. Outside restaurants on Hyogo Yokocyo, one of the more famous back streets, softly glowing lanterns light the entrance and also reflect of the cobbled street and traditional-style fence for a very old Japanese atmosphere.

TOKYO : SHIMOKITAZAWA

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Shimokitazawa is a neighborhood of small shopping streets and alleyways, projecting a strange, but comfortable atmosphere, as people crowd the backstreets until late in the night. However, plans to replace this quaint neighborhood with arterial roads and high-rises are underway. The detectives took what maybe a last chance to survey this area before it is “defaced.” The top half and rooftops of most buildings do not have any luminous signage. As a result, a bird’s eye view of this neighborhood is actually fairly dark. The station front plaza is filled with people listening to music from sidewalk acts or looking at street art. The crowds of people naturally overflow into a nearby street. If an arterial road is planned for this area, this atmosphere will be lost forever. Two streets back-to-back, but built to two different scales and with two different demeanors. On the left is Shimokitazawa`s main south entrance shopping street. With many interior decor shops, the lighting is bright and color temperature is high. One street inside and the atmosphere and lighting are more relaxed. Low color temperature, incandescent lamps from restaurants, cafes, and bars are the main source of light.

BERLIN Festival of Lights 2012, Germany

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Berlin is a multi-cultural city. Amongst the streets dating back to the Middle Ages, are very modern buildings that mysterious blend perfectly with the historical surroundings. In conjunction with this city survey we also attended the Festival of Lights, a lighting event in Berlin that keeps growing every year. Around the city light up, projections, and installations are arranged expanding the event and developing a lively night culture in the city. Looking over the city westward from the top of the TV tower. The axis of Unter den Linden extends toward the brightly lit Brandenburger Gate. Around the Potsdamer Platz are several modern buildings, but over all flashy displays of light or advertising does not stand out. One installation cover the street corner is colorful messages. Old and young, after-hour office workers and tourists, the city is alive with pedestrians enjoying the light entertainment and actually become part of the installations themselves. Festival viewers are proactive; men and women, old and young, all are enjoying the light entertainment. An older group of gentlemen shower themselves in color light and play in the color shadows and several older women carry around a camera and tripod snapping photos here and there. The festival is not just about technological quality, but creating a fun and entertaining culture.