Lighting Vulnerability Assessment – Brightness Journey Tool

Overview:

Many pedestrians—especially women and vulnerable populations—feel unsafe walking at night due to poorly lit streets. Despite this, traditional route planning tools rarely factor in streetlighting or perceived safety into their network calculations, leaving a critical gap in urban walkability tools.

Responsibilities:

As a proof of concept, I developed Brightness Journey—a tool that maps pedestrian routes based on streetlight brightness, referencing council and state lighting standards. I introduced the idea of using streetlight lux levels to build a weighted network for GIS-based cost analysis, allowing users to find safer, better-lit walking paths.

Outcome:

The tool demonstrated a novel approach to integrating lighting quality into pedestrian routing. It offers a foundation for safer urban mobility planning, supports inclusive design, and helps local governments prioritise infrastructure improvements that enhance walkability and nighttime safety in the built environment.