The illumination, the 2º more important factor in the construction of image of the cities

Said study has designed to know more thorough the paper of the lighted up public in the city and the perception that the citizens have of the illumination of his streets and squares. Of this analysis gives off that the illumination and rest of basic urban services head the list of variables that influence in the reputation of a city, with an importance of 18,5%, by behind only of the urban ‘attractive factor', represented by 19,8%.

The study aims the lighted up public like an opportunity to day of today, especially in time of economic crisis, once that leaves to have a merely functional use and raisin to play an important paper in the urban management. “The illumination is a form through which the cities manifest his personality, and that plays a fundamental paper to build his urban reputation and to allow that it compete effectively with programs of city marketing”, explains Gildo Seisdedos, professor of the IE Business School and coordinator of the investigation.

The public illumination appears associated to value by the citizens and, exactly thus, generates high dissatisfaction if it does not work properly. However, when it operates in mint condition it perceives like non-existent.

“The basic urban services, headed by the lighted up public, are perceived like a vital minimum, that only wake up our interest when they fail, like a free right and without contraprestaciones. For the citizens, light is, only, security without additional cost”, affirms Gildo.

Between the groups of greater age that have participated in the qualitative analysis carried out in this study, this perception is still more evident. There are some strong links between power of the illumination and citizen security, associating fields more lit with fields safer. However, in the youngest community, the public illumination is perceived like an utility that, thanks to the technology, is susceptible to evolve.

The study also puts of self-evident the need to carry out scientific investigations to quantify the problems generated by the pollution lumínica in the city and allow that they take correct decisions. The replacement of the incandescence by LED is indicated by experts like the “most obvious action and simple” to achieve efficiency and energetic savings, especially in time of economic crisis like the current.

“The technological changes aim to that the future is the technology LED like base of systems of intelligent illumination because they light and turn off to the instant and allows the possibility that the light work only when it detect the presence of people”, affirms Eduardo Mataix, general director of Lighted up of Philips.

The pollution lumínica is a relatively recent phenomenon associated to the unsuitable use of the external illumination. The study reveals that this problem stresses in developed countries, where exists the erroneous idea that a greater quantity of light is better and where the economic resources are greater. The investigation aims, besides, that the excess of light is more seen by the citizens like wasteful and waste that like fault of care to the environment.

“An illumination that aims to the sky is like a hose of water irrigating without control. Every time we are more conscious that it does not be necessary to squander water, but with the energy does not happen the same”, alert Eduardo. According to the Institute for the Diversification and Saving of the Energy (IDAE), only Spain explained the year happened with a total of 4.800.000 points of lighted up external that, with a half power of 180 W and 4.200 hours of annual utilisation/utilization, represented a consumption of electricity of 3.630 GWh/year for the group of the country. To way of reference, Germany, with more population that Spain, consumes the half of energy.

Philips, skilled company in lighted up efficient, in his bet by some more sustainable surroundings, offers solutions of illumination based in technology LED to improve the energetic efficiency, the quality of the light and his durability in lighted up public: the luminarias LED of Philips achieve an annual energetic saving until 80% and a saving in broadcasts of CO₂ of until 80%.