Configuring Light/ Staging the Social: Lighting London

Panel discussion hosted by Configuring Light

With the arrival of LED and ‘smart’ technologies, lighting has become an increasingly important area of interest and concern for planners, architects and designers. Debates around urban illumination are driven by the global narrative of the ‘sustainable city’, but also specific aesthetic motifs, issues around safety and security as well as light pollution. Despite this centrality, light is relatively invisible as a topic in various discussions in urban studies.

This panel discussion introduced light and lighting design to contemporary themes and concerns in urban planning for a 21st century metropolis by placing it into the context of the City of London. It was chaired by Ricky Burdett and will host major figures within urban planning, design and architecture: Peter Rees, Head Planner of the City of London, Eric Parry, Architect (Eric Parry Architects) and Keith Bradshaw, Light Designer (Speirs+Major).

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Profiles

    Keith Bradshaw

    Keith Bradshaw is principal at Speirs+Major, a UK lighting design practice which is  noted for its illumination of prominent buildings, including Barajas International Airport, 30 St Mary Axe and the Millennium Dome. The firm has also developed lighting master plans for several British cities, including Cambridge, Newcastle, and King’s Cross Central, London.

    Eric Parry

    Eric Parry studied architecture at the University of Newcastle , the Royal College of Art and the Architectural Association. Eric Parry Architects was established in 1983, the year Eric was appointed as a lecturer in architecture at the University of Cambridge, where he taught until 1997. In 2006 Eric Parry was elected Royal Academician (RA).

    Peter Rees

    Peter Rees is Professor of Places and City Planning at the UCL Faculty of the Built Environment. He joined UCL after 29 years as the City of London Corporation’s City Planning Officer.
 Peter, who studied Architecture at The Bartlett, will become Professor of Places and City Planning as part of a three-year professorship – with the first year sponsored by the City Corporation.

    Ricky Burdett

    Ricky Burdett is Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics (LSE), and director of LSE Cities and the Urban Age project. He is a member of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board, and was chief advisor on Architecture and Urbanism for the London 2012 Olympics and architectural advisor to the Mayor of London from 2001 to 2006. He was director of the International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2006. With Deyan Sudjic he is co-editor of The Endless City (2007) and Living in the Endless City (2011) and, with Philipp Rode Shaping Cities in an Urban Age (2018).