J-STAGE Advanced published date: August 13, 2013, doi: IEIJ120000491
Journal of Light & Visual Environment

Research Note

The Experiments Giving Illuminations to the Street by Residents
Participation
Shigeo KOBAYASHI* and Kazutaka MURAKAWA**Department of Architecture, Tokyo City University
Received December 19, 2012, Accepted May 30, 2013
Paper was originally presented in the China, Japan and Korea Lighting Conference in Tokyo, 2012

ABSTRACTThis research attempted to create a lighting environment of a street by residents and carried out twoexperiments. The ﬁrst experiment was to run a workshop in which children from the neighborhood added
illuminations to a 1/25 model of the street. As a result, lights were installed taking account of the types
and characteristics of the buildings and the street, and an original lighting environment that the existing
concept did not have was created. The next experiment involved holding an event in which handmade
lights were placed on the actual street. Using LED lamps with switches, children and adults from theneighborhood made lighting products, attached magnets to them, and stuck them on shutters, guardrails,
signboards, vending machines, etc. The individual landscape was produced by residents. The psychological effect and social value to the area were conﬁrmed through the interviews.
KEYWORDS: street light, resident participation, streetscape, illumination, workshop

1.

Introduction
The purpose of this research is to explore the potential for creating a streetscape by residents themselves.
The street landscapes constituted by buildings, roads,plantings, etc. are usually planned and constructed by
the local government, or speciﬁc contractors, planners
or designers. In recent years, the usage and landscapesof streets came to be discussed by citizensʼ participationin municipal aﬀairs. However, even if a plan is decided
by agreement formation, the reﬂection of each resident
to the streetscape is actually limited. It is because astreet is so large-scale and the once created street cannot be changed in a short term. If a streetscape is created by residents brieﬂy, it will be equipped with amore sociable atmosphere, and the relationship between
the street and the residents will improve, and the residentʼs attachment to the street will also increase.
We focused our attention on illuminations of a street.
Nighttime lights serve as the most principal elements ina landscape1). The visibility of light in a dark night becomes high even if the luminescence is not strong. Inaddition, light covers a wide range, illuminating features
such as road surfaces and building facades. Designing alight layout is directly connected to designing landscapes. And since light can be extinguished with aswitch, even if it does not have the careful agreement
to landscape, it can be used to realize a challenging design with a playful imagination.
This research carried out two workshops as an ex-periment in creating a streetscape at night, during
which residents enjoyed themselves without pressure.
The Oyamadai shopping street in a typical residential
area in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo was targeted.
2.

Participatory illumination to a street model
The ﬁrst experiment was to run a workshop in whichchildren from the neighborhood added illuminations to
a 1/25 white model of the street. The street model ofthe length of 100 m of absolute sizes was installed in theheight of childrenʼs eyes. For this, 150 0.06-W LED
lamps in ﬁve colors were used as light sources. Experiment space was switched oﬀ, and no restrictions on theuse of the illuminations were made. The experiment
was conducted three times by diﬀerent subjects in twodays. A total of Twenty-ﬁve schoolchildren participatedin the workshop. They were instructed as attachinglights to the model as that the street may get more
comfortable. Figure 1 shows the elevation of the model.
Figure 2 shows one of the model elevations of the illuminations given by children. Figure 3 shows the setting-up situation by a child, and Figure 4 shows accomplished modelʼs photograph.
Table 1 shows where lights were placed in two experiments. Most lights were attached to the buildings,
and they irradiated to the walls, pictures, pedestrians,
or interior spaces. Several children changed the brightness and color of street lights. Lights were not added
only to decorate the buildings plainly, they were trans-

Figure 1 Elevation of the street model (1/25)
Model structure: Cardboard painted white, Size: Width: 3600, Length: 4500, Height: 700 mmFigure 2 One of the model elevation with illuminations
Materials: LED 150 pieces, 2 colors paste containing lame, 3 colors ribbon, 5 colors paper, 20 signboards

Figure 3Figure 4 The accomplished illuminations

Setting-up situation by a schoolgirl

Table 1 The installation places of lights

Table 2 The summary of interview to residents (N=12)
Question

Attached location
Direction of radiation

Building

GroundTree

Streetlight

Building wall

161*1

1400

Roadside tree

1170

Pedestrian

34*2

1300

Alleyway

1000

Added creation

17100

Signboard000Drawing

1129*330

Window or opening

71*400Street light0007*5297

4277Total1) What do you think aboutchildren creating illuminations in the actual street?
2) Do you like to live in a street
with such lights?

AnswerAgree*1

NumberDisagree0

No answer
Agree*2

1293

Disagree0

Cooperation activities*383) What is required to realize
this activity?

Increase of electriclights

20

Other answers204) What is likely to happen inthis street?

Favorable action*4
Unfavorable action*510The number expresses the total of three experiments. Example Behaviors: *1 The lights united with the size and the contents of theshops were decorated. For example, the light of the color whichlooks delicious was attached in the restaurant. The airplane warning
light was attached to the roof of the building. *2 People of the sidewalk were illuminated from the building. *3 The picture drawn on
the wall was decorated. *4 The color of internal lighting waschanged according to the industry of shops. *5 Street lights werechanged into blue light or dark light from white bright light.

2Example Answers: *1 The individual illuminations diﬀerent fromusual adults are likely to be produced. *2 The street with childrenʼsworks seems to be cheerful and pleasant. If residents participate tocreate a street, they will feel more familiarity for it. *3 Many neighboring residents have to participate in this activity. Cooperation
with neighboring institutions such as parks and the museum is required. *4 Crimes will decrease and people's communication will getactive. It will be easy to walk the street alone at night. *5 Some people might be unfavorite in fancy illuminations.

Figure 5 How to make the shining mascot
Materials: 1000 pieces of LED, 500 magnets, paper of 800 sheets, 30 clips, 860-m string, 400 glasses, 200 lace, 200cloth, 100 blocks, 10 plants

Figure 6 Views of making and sticking lights in the street
The products manufactured on the street were attached to bicycles, automatic vending machines, shutters, etc.

formed by the function and the atmosphere of eachbuilding. For example, the light of the color which looks
delicious was attached in the restaurant. As a result,lights were installed taking account of the types andcharacteristics of the buildings and the street, and an
original lighting environment that the existing concept
did not have was created. This is considered because
the producers already knew the street well and theirknowledge and ideas were reﬂected in produce.
The accomplished model was presented to the adults
from the neighborhood. Table 2 summarized the interview to them. The illuminations which children ornamented were evaluated highly, and all people answeredthat they would like to live in such a street. As indicated in the table, not only was the visual cheerfulnessof the childrenʼs work highlighted, but it was also pointed out that such a street was likely to be crime-free andto improve peopleʼs communication. It is considered tohave led to those eﬀects that each light was attachedwith the intention rather than was attached mechanically. Furthermore, in order to realize this activity, it

was pointed out that to cooperate with various peopleof this area was required.
3.

Sticking handmade lights on a street
The next experiment involved holding an event inwhich handmade lights were placed on the actual street.
In order that light might be simply attached by thestreet, it was considered to combine a magnet with it.
Using LED lamps with switches, children and adults
from the neighborhood made lighting products, and attached magnets to them. As shown in Figure 5, they
were shining mascots with smiling faces using the lightest materials. The workshop was carried out from
16 : 00 to 21 : 00 in July, 2011.
After lighting products were made, they were stuckthem on metaled elements, speciﬁcally shutters, guardrails, signboards, vending machines, etc. Figure 6 shows
the views of the workshop and the examples of stuck
lights. A total of 500 works were installed, and eachspot was investigated. The originality of the residents
was demonstrated in the created products and the plac-

Figure 7 The metal elements on the street in which handmade lights were stuck

Figure 8

Installed locations according to time

Table 3 The summary of interview to shop owners (N=24)
Positiveanswer

NegativeanswerNeither1) What do you think of this workshop?

21*1032) What do you think about installing handmade lights in thestreet, especially to your shops?

17*2163) What do you think about the landscape of childrenʼs works
being decorated?

16*3084) Do you like to participate in such activity?

21*4

03Question

Example Answers: *1 It is good to decorate the street with the made product, without bringing home instantly.
They are interesting in landscape and there is feeling of security. *2 Handmade illuminations will deﬁnitely attract
other people. The event making something in a street is more desirable rather than the event selling something.
There is a place where light can be attached in my store. *3 People and storekeepers get close relationship. The process carried out has important meaning rather than the quality of what completed. *4 We would like to cooperate inactivity as much as possible. Eaves and Signboards can be decorated with lights. Lights can be installed if they are
not completely against our business.

es where they were placed.
Figure 7 shows the elements in which lights werestuck, and Figure 8 shows how they spread according
time. These lights were placed in a limited area near
the workshop at ﬁrst, but spread over a large range
gradually. When it passed 2 hours after starting theworkshop, they were stuck over about 100 m of thestreet. It was observed that not only children placed
lights to the street, but they rearranged them several
times or took communication through lights. All thestreet lights of this area were switched oﬀ for 30 minutes from 20 : 00 to 20 : 30. Therefore, although it wastemporary, the streetscape was formed of numerous
handmade lights.
Interviews with shop owners in the street were held,and Table 3 shows the outline of the result. According
to the interview, most owners were positive to this activity. The owners of 17 shops among 24 shops acceptedthat childrenʼs lights were attached to their shops. Theowners of 21 shops expressed that they would like toparticipate in next activity. It was also evaluated highlyby participants, residents and pedestrians. It was conﬁrmed that the lights had increased peopleʼs concern
for the street. Several residents mentioned that theyhave felt easy when such lights were on the street. On
the other hand, the management diﬃculty at the time oflong-term setting was mentioned as a negative opinion.
Although the safety of a street generally improves byilluminance on the street or color rendering properties2)3), it was also conﬁrmed that it had improved by thelights attached to buildings and houses in our previous
researches1)4)5). For example, in the residential street ofthe suburbs, the evaluation of lighting environment wasimproved not only by the amount of light but by thelight ﬁttings attached on the gate or at the entryway oron the hedge belonging to private property5) because
they were connected to residentsʼ existence6). Creationof the lighting environment of the street by residents
which was performed by this research expresses peopleʼs existences to the outdoors more strongly, and willcontribute to deterring immoral behavior in the street.

4.

Concluding remark
Through these two experiments, it was found that astreetscape that includes people's individual ideas could
be expressed readily by using lights, and the possibilityof improvement of the local environment, such as facilitating crime prevention, was indicated. Making thelights of a street by resident participation will contribute to growing the concern about light or a street. Inorder to realize this goal, it is required to consider not a
short-term event but the long-term installation method.
It is also essential to increase the accuracy of the experiment and involve various residents, workers, students and children who have involvement in the samearea.
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