Thanks to rapid advances in technology, client expectations can now go beyond simple quantitative criteria. Light is moving toward a notion of quality, where lighting fully contributes to the global sensory experience of a place or city.

Residents and decision-makers are better informed, more demanding, and seek new performance levels. In addition to legibility and visual comfort, aesthetic criteria are becoming essential.

The efforts of cities and towns to enhance their architectural, historic or landscape heritage through night-time identity give lighting a new dimension. Each subject must regain its meaning, its symbols and its role in the city. It needs to be reintegrated into its site, and its night-time environment studied.

Current thinking in architecture and urban planning around harmonising public lighting within a Lighting Master Plan helps provide answers.

The lighting plan then becomes a tool that allows local authorities and technical departments to personalise every site while guaranteeing overall consistency. These studies require multiple skills and a flawless methodology to coordinate the actions of the various partners.