In its infinite wisdom, Edinburgh's Committee of Public Safety has, this week, decreed that the future will be bright, very bright indeed, but it will no longer be orange. Instead, it will be LEDen. [See Breaking news, 28.10.15.]
Regrettably, the city will soon be saying goodbye to sodium vapour's yellow brick roads. For reasons I've discussed elsewhere, I'm rather saddened by this. One of the few who is, I suspect.
To be fair, it must be said that, while I really hanker after a return to the gaslight of which some cities maintain a limited presence, it's difficult to have much rational truck with LEDification per se.
It is, admittedly, a sensible – perhaps the only – response to spiralling energy costs and ever tightening municipal belts.
It seems that wherever city lighting has already been enriched to LED grade, this has resulted in something approaching general panic.
Whereas once the light in these streets was evenly diffused, the upgrade has apparently made it much more focused. The consequence of this is that the city's entire fleet of maniacs has migrated to the patches of immense, malevolent darkness that now exist between lamps.
At least it gets them out of City Chambers, I suppose.
In any case, because of this, we now have a municipal commitment to making the night city as bright as a thousand suns.
Perhaps it says more about me, but I like night to be night, and street lighting, especially in residential areas, to be subtle rather than dazzling. I suspect the city's wildlife appreciates dimness too.
The argument that the brighter the street, the lower the crime strikes me as a spurious one. We're not talking here about roads lit by the faint glow of a lone oil lamp. We're talking about the same fearful mentality that demands CCTV on every street corner.
There can never be too many cameras or too much light.
Yet, the reality is that the darkness isn't on the streets, it's in people's heads. It's a brave new nocturnal world, and one I don't much appreciate.
It is also something of a disappointment that the LED street lights themselves always have to be so damn ugly. Aesthetic concerns now rarely appear on this city's municipal radar. Edinburgh is not the only city in the world with financial constraints, but has developed a philistinism second to none.
In contrast, other cities have managed to put some thought into their upgrade of lighting stock. In Berlin, for instance, LEDs mimic the characteristic soft glow of the gas lights they have replaced. Moreover, the street lights themselves are often very handsome.
Can you imagine this attention to detail in Edinburgh? It's almost as though the very thought would be immoral.
While some brave and magnificent souls continue to resist the tide, a city once synonymous with elegance and beauty has become, in the main, extraordinarily vulgar and utilitarian. This isn't just a Council issue, it's a wider cultural one.
Looking on the bright side, at least we'll get a better night-time view of the city's spectacular rubbish constellations.
But if this is the best of all possible Edinburghs, perhaps I'll just go and cultivate my garden.—David Hill
Got a view? Tell us at spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook
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Good article.LED lights are changing the character of cities for the worse. RIP the warm,welcoming,heartwarming glow
@theSpurtle LED lights can be chosen in a warm spectrum that gives a soft light check these out http://www.linealight.com/site/uk/projects/ … @StockbridgeArch
NewTownCleanStreets Retweeted Broughton Spurtle
Alas the times, alas the manners...
Paul Foley What a cynical article
David Blaikie @StockbridgeArch
New Town Flâneur @NewTownFlaneur
@StockbridgeArch @EdinburghSJ @theSpurtle An interesting streetscape certainly, but despite the street lights, not because of them...
David Blaikie @StockbridgeArch @NewTownFlaneur @EdinburghSJ @theSpurtle Disagree. A good streetscape badly lit is ruine
@StockbridgeArch @EdinburghSJ @theSpurtle I don't disagree. I merely add that it's about the street lamps themseves as well as the light.
@StockbridgeArch @EdinburghSJ @theSpurtle They are no great beauties, although certainly not the city's worst.
@StockbridgeArch @EdinburghSJ @theSpurtle In any case, perhaps Comely Bank Ave is one of those streets where more lights will be installed..
David Blaikie @StockbridgeArch
@EdinburghSJ @theSpurtle Lots of lessons to be learnt on street lighting in Copenhagen. Light and shade....
@NewTownFlaneur @EdinburghSJ @theSpurtle I think we both agree that there is room for improvement in Edinburgh's lighting!!!!
@NewTownFlaneur @EdinburghSJ @theSpurtle Don't mistake nostalgia for decent colour rendition....
@StockbridgeArch @EdinburghSJ @theSpurtle I quite like sodium actually. LED anaemic, at least in its Edinburgh guise.@StockbridgeArch @EdinburghSJ @theSpurtle Primark's frontage gives excellent colour rendition...
Patrick Hadfield I believe the focused nature if LED streetlights will greatly reduce light pollution, which could have a really positive effect of our perception of the night sky. If so, it'd definitely be welcomed!@NTCleanStreets @theSpurtle @StockbridgeArch the new LEDs that CEC have put up are using an unnecessarily harsh spectrum cold white
