Parks at Night: Darkness Isn't the Problem, Shadows Are

An urban park that is still in use at night. The lighting strategy is not to illuminate the entire park, but to clearly grade it: main pathways have continuous low-level lighting, bright enough to recognize a person's face four meters away, with no continuous dark sections; activity areas such as ball courts and plazas have higher illumination and can be timed to turn off; while most planting areas and ecological zones remain dark to protect nocturnal animals. The key is visibility—shrubs are trimmed below waist height, there are no blind spots behind seating where one could hide, and one can see through to the distance from the paths. People are jogging and strolling in the scene. The sky remains deep black with visible stars. Avoid: uniformly illuminating the entire park, having continuous dark sections on paths, planting shrubs taller than a person, allowing light to spill upwards into the sky.

Translated from Chinese by AI.

一座夜間仍然被使用的都市公園。照明的策略不是把整座公園照亮,而是明確分級:主要動線有連續的低位照明,亮度足以辨認四公尺外的人臉,沒有連續的暗段;活動場地如球場與廣場有較高的照度並可以定時關閉;而大部分的植栽區與生態區維持黑暗,保護夜行動物。關鍵是視線——灌木被修剪至腰部以下,座椅背後沒有可以藏匿的死角,從步道可以看穿到遠處。畫面中有人在慢跑與散步。天空維持深黑可見星點。避免:把整座公園均勻照亮、讓步道出現連續的暗段、把灌木種得高過人身、讓光向上溢散到天空。