Everyone deserves good lighting and beneficial darkness

The practice of Light Justice begins through connecting with the occupants and stakeholders who will live with the lighting we design. Ask questions of the stakeholders, or community representatives. Not about lighting, but about how they want to experience their space during the day and at night, and truly listen. By hearing their preferences and apprehensions before prescribing solutions, our lighting can provide greater benefit to residents and communities. ​Engagement with communities and stakeholders should be done through existing community-based organizations who already have the trust and goodwill of the community.​

Share our knowledge with stakeholders so that they are better able to articulate the lighting qualities that they want to experience in their space. This may be an experiential sharing through a “night walk” observing existing conditions in their neighborhood, and then to other sites where they can experience quality lighting. We can produce material that can be shared widely, building a community’s collective knowledge and language around advocating for the lighting they deserve.

Have stakeholders be a part of the design process. Take their feedback and incorporate it into the lighting design. Lighting mock-ups with the community are an excellent way to empower stakeholders to see the impact of lighting and how their feedback can be incorporated into the final design.​ Design charrettes are also an effective democratic way to engage the community and prioritize these design decisions.

Defend these elements throughout the design and through the procurement and installation process.  Throughout the value engineering process, justify the quality of lighting in all areas and not just the public areas where people spend the least amount of time.  Be their champion of lighting equity throughout the design process.  Celebrate the results with the community, showing them how they were listened to and that their community has value.