Smart City Expo World Congress Barcelona 2026

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How does street lighting impact the
feeling of safety, boost inclusivity,

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and support residents big and small?

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That was the question the panel
organized by LUCI Association, CICAT,

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and the TALQ Consortium
was looking to answer.

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The event was moderated by Christophe
Orceau from the TALQ Consortium, and

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had Sara Ortiz from Col·lectiu Punt 6,
Sebastian Lindhorst from the City of

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Leipzig, and Magnus Ekelund
from the City of Gothenburg.

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But in terms of lighting, that we have
cities, the lighting has been focused

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on roads and cars,

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that they have lights, but not on the

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infrastructures where
people walk, cycle.

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We saw that we have very good lighting
of the car roads, but there are many

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paths which are not lighted
or only barely lighted.

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And we saw that this is quite like
a barrier for people, for women, for

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young people, or even old people.

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So So last month we switched off the
first lighting infrastructure on car

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roads. We really switched it off,
not dimming, just switching it off.

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Even harder is to bring light to new
places, and if you bring light to new

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places, you bring
people to new places.

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I see a lot of people who are walking
there or even sitting there and

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enjoying the late daytime or
nighttime, and for me it's a sign that

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they feel safe, because if
not, they won't be there.

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It should be

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totally off for bats.
They don't like light.

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So it's easy, but it must be safe for
the people who are going out with the

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dogs in the night. It's
much easier to maintain

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the luminaires and
what we have standards.

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So one of the key takeaways that I get
after this panel is clearly the great

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cooperation between these
three organizations.

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Two international, TALQ and LUCI,
and CICAT, the local organization for

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illumination in Catalonia.

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A key takeaway from this panel is
that lighting is all about context.

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It means different things to different
people, which is what makes it so

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complex to plan and where smart
solutions or digitalization can help.