Dark Sky Neighborhood
This pattern is shaped by
Problem
When outdoor lighting is unshielded, excessive, or always on, the night sky disappears, human circadian rhythms are disrupted, wildlife is harmed, and energy is wasted — all to illuminate empty parking lots and the undersides of clouds.
Evidence and Discussion
Light pollution has increased globally by approximately 10% per year for the past decade. Research from the International Dark-Sky Association shows that poorly designed outdoor lighting wastes an estimated $3 billion in electricity annually in the U.S. alone. The health evidence is mounting: disruption of melatonin production, increased cancer risk, sleep disorders. For wildlife — birds, insects, sea turtles — the effects are devastating.
The deeper pattern is the *rhythm* of light and dark at the neighborhood scale — pools of illumination at gathering places and intersections, with deliberately dark corridors between them. A neighborhood that lets you see the Milky Way is not merely charming — it's connected to fundamental human biological rhythms and the experience of contrast that makes both light and dark meaningful.
Therefore
design neighborhood lighting as a rhythm of bright gathering places and dark passage corridors. Illuminate paths and public spaces from below, shielded and warm-toned (2700K or less), with motion sensors on non-essential lights. Designate dark corridors between pools of light where the night sky is visible. No light fixture should direct light above the horizontal plane. The pattern is the alternation — make the darkness between the pools of light as deliberate as the light itself.