Pedestrian post-twilight illuminance levels for security, visual comfort, and related parameters: the case of public parks in New Delhi

ABSTRACT

This paper measures the illuminance level during the post-twilight darkness on the walking path of a famous public park in New Delhi. The readings, 252 in number, were mapped on a map using Global Positioning System and were measured using a lux meter at regular intervals throughout the pathway. The required illuminance depends upon multiple factors, including visual comfort, safety, security, prevention of light pollution and energy-saving concerns. In a limited scope, this paper has only looked at the measured values and checked whether they fall within the limits of visual comfort derived from literature and security as taken from the Indian lighting standard. The readings show that about one-third of the points on the pathway have zero illuminance levels. Among the rest, 127 of the 252, about half the points were at the level of comfort of 1 to 2 lux. The remaining one-third of the total was over-illuminated from the visual comfort point of view but appropriate from the security approach, which requires readings above 5 lux. It is recommended that instead of the proper focus on lighting levels, uniformly distributed light at an equally distributed spacing throughout the pathway would be more appropriate. Bollard-based lighting focusing on the pathway will be more suitable than the existing high street lamps. This will not only provide lighting for security and comfort but will also prevent light pollution. Such studies must be repeated across parks and streets in India, and more factors like light temperature should be studied further

KEYWORDS:

• Visual comfort
• security
• safety
• Lodhi Garden
• lighting design
• CPTED

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Rajshekhar Pullabhatla of the Information Sharing and Analysis Centre for the kind support. Thanks to Group Captain P Aanand Naidu of Tathathara Foundation for the kind support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval statement

This study requires no ethical approval as it involves no human participants, tissue, or animals (National Ethics Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research Involving Human Participants 2017).

Additional information

Funding

No specific funding was taken for this study.

Notes on contributors

Raja Singh

Raja Singh is a Visiting Faculty in the Department of Architecture, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. He is Advisor at ISAC Centre for Built Environment Policy (India) which is a non-profit think-tank working on creating safe neigbourhoods and secure critical infrastructure through policy research and advocacy. He has been raising important issues related to various issues of urban policy and urban health at various national judicial and policy related forums. He is the Built Environment and Public Health Research Fellow at Tathatara Foundation, Bobbili, India and also the Secretary (Hon.) of STC:34, Indoor Environmental Quality Guidelines at ISIAQ. He is an alumni of SPA New Delhi, NIT Trichy and IET Bhaddal. He holds a PhD in the area of prevention of airborne infection spread in the built environment.