Configuring the Urban Night

Lighting efficiency, environmental impact and quality of life in contemporary Medellín

Panel discussion of the Configuring Light series hosted by Configuring Light and LSE Cities

Hosted by LSE Cities, Despacio and Parque Explora, and with participation from Medellín Municipality, this official side event to the World Urban Forum 7 aims at mapping and understanding the role urban lighting can play in improving livelihoods, increasing safety and fostering sustainable environmental policies for cities. Representatives of lighting research initiatives, regulatory bodies and the industry will analyse the interests of different stakeholders as well as current developments in urban design and governance in the context of contemporary Medellín.

Please note the times of this seminar (6pm – 8pm) are local Medellín time (COT).

Photo credit: “Medellín at Night” by Robert Schrader

Profiles

    Carlosfelipe Pardo

    Carlosfelipe Pardo is a Colombian psychologist with an MSc in Contemporary Urbanism from the LSE. He works on transportation issues in Latin America, Africa and Asia from the organisational, advocacy and policy perspectives. He also founded the organisation Despacio.org which focuses on urban development issues and has published a book on Bogotá's development until 2050 (Bogotá 21).

    Leni Schwendinger

    Leni Schwendinger is an Associate Principal at Arup, and a recognised authority on urban lighting plus art and colour, with more than 15 years of experience creating illuminated environments for public spaces all over the world.

    Don Slater

    Don Slater is associate professor at LSE Sociology and co-founded the Configuring Light Programme at LSE Cities with with Mona Sloane. Configuring Light is now hosted in LSE Sociology. His research focuses on relation between culture and economy, ethnographies of new media and digital culture in the third world, and visual culture. Within Configuring Light, he draws on actor-network theory and material culture studies to investigate how light, as a material, is configured into social, technical and spatial forms. He is currently developing a comparative research project on urban lighting in the Global South.