The Social Light Field at Illuminated Footpaths

The light field describes the light in a given space, capturing spatial and form-giving visual qualities of light, such as the direction and diffuseness, in addition to conventional intensity-related metrics. In urban mobility, this is connected to social aspects, as these lighting qualities impact how objects or people appear. We tested how these lighting qualities vary objectively, optically, in real conditions and whether they influence a social factor like the subjective, perceived friendliness of a face, and how well-lit a face and surroundings appeared. The results showed that how well-lit, friendly, and comfortable faces and environments were rated, did not correlate to light intensity. The results instead indicated the importance of factors related to the modelling effects of the lighting like diffuseness and light vector.