City Light or Star Bright: A Review of Urban Light Pollution, Impacts, and Planning Implications

Pothukuchi, Kameshwari

doi:10.1177/0885412220986421

Cited by 26 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 75 publications

(128 reference statements)

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“…Along with the development of urban infrastructures, in addition to street lighting, other light sources appeared, increasing the brightness of the sky glow. Light pollution is mainly due to the operation of wrongly designed street lighting, advertising, illumination of sports stadiums, construction, security, and façade lighting [7][8][9][10][11]. To this day, there is no real effective policy that deals with this problem.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Street Lighting on the Urban and Rural Night-Time Radiance and the Brightness of the Night Sky

Ściężor

2021

Remote Sensing

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In April 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the tourism decrease in Cracow (Poland), the Road Authority of the City of Cracow, followed by the authorities of several neighbouring municipalities, decided to turn off street lighting at night. It is worth noting that this is the first time that street lighting has been turned off in such a large area on a longer time frame at this scale, including one of the most populated cities in Poland, which made it possible to make unique observations. During this period, with the help of small night-sky radiance meters (Sky Quality Meters (SQM)), many ground-based measurements were made, both within the city and in its vicinity. For this purpose, the existing light pollution monitoring stations in Cracow and neighbouring cities were used. It was found that after switching off street lighting, the zenith surface brightness of the cloudless sky decreased by 15–39%, and this value was proportional to the city’s population. The night-time light satellite data (VIIRS/DNB) on radiance from Cracow and neighbouring communes were also analysed, both their daily values as well as monthly and annual averages. It was found that in the case of a large city such as Cracow, turning off all street lighting reduces the amount of light energy radiated into the sky by about 50%, which is a relatively small decrease in radiance, while reducing the surface brightness of the night sky by about 40%, regardless of the state of the atmosphere. The effect of a significant decrease in radiance as a result of switching off street lighting was found in each of the analysed communes, especially the urbanised ones.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Street Lighting on the Urban and Rural Night-Time Radiance and the Brightness of the Night Sky

Ściężor

2021

Remote Sensing

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“…Human influence is one of the main drivers of landscape change and loss of biodiversity [48,49]. Nighttime light pollution caused by humans has influenced the physiological and behavioral pattern of organisms, and thus threatened biodiversity, but it has been persistently ignored in macroecology and ecological connectivity research [50,51]. We found that the matrix in our study area was significantly disrupted by nighttime light.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Ecological Corridor Construction Based on Least-Cost Modeling Using Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Nighttime Light Data and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

Liu

Fang

2021

Land

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Anthropic pressure is one of the main drivers of landscape change and biodiversity loss. Artificial nighttime light, which can affect species behavior, is an important human-induced threat to biodiversity, but it is often ignored in ecological connectivity research. To mitigate the adverse impacts of artificial lighting on biodiversity, this study integrates artificial nighttime light in landscape ecology and analyzes the influence of artificial nighttime light on landscape connectivity. A quantitative approach integrating nighttime light brightness from a Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) with a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from a Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is proposed to estimate the matrix resistance, which can identify the sensitive areas that are disrupted by nighttime light. It was found that the nightscape in the study area is significantly disrupted by nighttime light and the matrix resistance in the center of the study area significantly increases. Compared to the least-cost routes from the NDVI, the “dark” least-cost ecological corridors constructed using our approach apparently change in both location and distance. The corridors moved to the outer suburbs and rural areas, and the maximum increase in distance of the least-cost paths was 37.94%. Due to less disturbance from human activity and the maintenance of a pristine nightscape, “dark” ecological corridors can reduce the adverse effects of night lights and contribute to biodiversity. However, natural habitats have been greatly affected by nighttime light with the increase in global illumination, and it is essential that we improve public awareness of light pollution and formulate light-reduction policies and legislation.

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“…Table A2. Overview of terminologies and definitions of responses to light in living organisms and ecosystems [53,[291][292][293][294][295][296][297][298][299].…”

Section: Electric Electric Lightingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The visual sensitivity of a vertebrate to see when exposed to conditions such as twilight at luminances between 0.01 and 3 cd/m 2 . Mesopic vision involves both photoreceptors (rods and cones) for scotopic and photopic vision [53,298].…”

Section: Mesopic Visionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Systematic Review for Establishing Relevant Environmental Parameters for Urban Lighting: Translating Research into Practice

et al. 2022

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The application of lighting technologies developed in the 20th century has increased the brightness and changed the spectral composition of nocturnal night-time habitats and night skies across urban, peri-urban, rural, and pristine landscapes, and subsequently, researchers have observed the disturbance of biological rhythms of flora and fauna. To reduce these impacts, it is essential to translate relevant knowledge about the potential adverse effects of artificial light at night (ALAN) from research into applicable urban lighting practice. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify and report, via a systematic review, the effects of exposure to different physical properties of artificial light sources on various organism groups, including plants, arthropods, insects, spiders, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and non-human mammals (including bats, rodents, and primates). PRISMA 2020 guidelines were used to identify a total of 1417 studies from Web of Science and PubMed. In 216 studies, diverse behavioral and physiological responses were observed across taxa when organisms were exposed to ALAN. The studies showed that the responses were dependent on high illuminance levels, duration of light exposure, and unnatural color spectra at night and also highlighted where research gaps remain in the domains of ALAN research and urban lighting practice. To avoid misinterpretation, and to define a common language, key terminologies and definitions connected to natural and artificial light have been provided. Furthermore, the adverse impacts of ALAN urgently need to be better researched, understood, and managed for the development of future lighting guidelines and standards to optimize sustainable design applications that preserve night-time environment(s) and their inhabiting flora and fauna.

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City Light or Star Bright: A Review of Urban Light Pollution, Impacts, and Planning Implications

Cited by 26 publications

References 75 publications

Effect of Street Lighting on the Urban and Rural Night-Time Radiance and the Brightness of the Night Sky

Effect of Street Lighting on the Urban and Rural Night-Time Radiance and the Brightness of the Night Sky

Ecological Corridor Construction Based on Least-Cost Modeling Using Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Nighttime Light Data and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

A Systematic Review for Establishing Relevant Environmental Parameters for Urban Lighting: Translating Research into Practice

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