Home Sweet Home
Published on: 2nd of January 2012
Current city: Lisbon
After the initial shock, I felt happy to be home. Lisbon is such an inspiring capital that is hard to become indifferent to this city. And now seeing it under a ´new light´ it seemed more charming than ever.
Inhabited since the Neolithic t is a city with seven hills crossed by the wide river Tagus and its natural port was always an important feature of the city. The river and the ocean at Lisbon doors´ are a constant presence in the city that you can actually admire from various perspectives and different highpoints. Nevertheless one of my favourite perspectives is actually from the south side of the river. You can either appreciate it by crossing the bridge 25th April or just take a ferry like I did to watch the sunset.
Lisbon is often associated with light, and it has become quite a popular destination for many directors and for the set of many commercials mostly due to the ´quality of light´. During the day it is a bright city, the light reflects on the white cobbled pavement and the river itself acts as a natural reflector. It would be interesting to know if cities by the water have actually different levels of natural light or this feeling just lies on human perception. By night there is room for improvement as most of the streets are still illuminated by sodium, and even though the energy efficiency has been taken into account I definitely think that a city like Lisbon deserves better lighting or a light masterplan.
Speaking with Diana Del-Negro, an architect that has been working on the Lisbon City Hall illuminating heritage buildings and historical monuments and is now doing a PhD on urban lighting, assured me that there is work being done towards the improvement of lighting in the city. But as we all know implementing changes and a long term investment at an urban scale always requires more time than usual.
I was surprised to find out that citizens usually complaint when street lighting needs lamp changing and maintenance as they feel there is not enough light on the streets or areas they live in. It is known that light in the cities are often associated with safety but it is always good to know that citizens are taking the initiative to improve their own lit environment. Seeing Lisbon from the other side I actually think our city is overlit, mostly due to the lack of light control of the existing luminaires. But if in some places I feel the city is overlit, there are definitely other areas that seemed really dark, even though most of the important symbols and buildings of the city are illuminated.
Once again I think it is very enlightening to walk around your own city at night. I realised the more I know the hardest it gets to pick the best lighting inspirations. But I was lucky to catch one of the largest public squares with candles for a charity event. I don´t think it can get more inspirational than this!
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