Ute Besenecker, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Location: Sutton South
Wednesday, April 14, 2027
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm ET
Credits TBA
Intermediate
Lighting urban exterior environments is a topic with conflicting strategies and needs; approaches of designing not only with illumination but also with darkness are gaining interest. Walking outdoors after sunset and before sunrise occurs for various reasons, posing specific demands on lighting design to support both vision and comfort. This course will present and juxtapose differing stakeholder needs and urban concepts of shaping the outdoor environment by drawing on international case studies, guidelines, and research involving the fields of planning, psychology and lighting.
Some background related to exterior lighting will be useful to get most out of this session.
Learning Objectives
- Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to identify various objectives for pedestrian lighting in urban pedestrian contexts.
- Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to discuss the differing needs of various stakeholders impacted by urban illumination after dark.
- Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to assess qualities of different sources contributing to urban exterior illumination.
- Upon completion of this session, participants will be able to inform about lighting needs for walking in pedestrian zones after dark.
Speaker
Ute Besenecker
Associate Professor of Lighting Design and Graduate Program Director
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Ute Besenecker, Associate Professor of Lighting Design and Graduate Program Director at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, School of Architecture, is a design researcher and educator focusing on the impact of lighting on human perception, behavior and wellbeing in spatial environments. Her special interest is facilitating interdisciplinary research collaborations across architecture, lighting design, art, engineering, and the sciences to connect research, education, and practice.
Ute's background spans academic research and education as well as professional practice in lighting design, policy development, product management, and architecture. Recently she has served as Head of the Architectural Lighting Design Division at KTH (Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden). Her academic activities include teaching in graduate and undergraduate programs at RPI and KTH, and leading grant-funded research projects related to interior and exterior lighting design.
Ute is a part of the editorial team for LEUKOS, the journal of the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), and member of the IES, the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), the International Commission on Illumination (CIE), and founding member of the Light Collaboration Network for Research and Education (LCN).
Ute holds a PhD in Architectural Sciences from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) as well as Master’s Degrees in Lighting from the Lighting Research Center at RPI, and in Architecture and Design from Columbia University, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany, and Polytechnico di Milano, Italy.