VNISI as a part of LUCI participated in the City under Microscope Rotterdam – modern lighting solutions for a modern city

Rotterdam, one of the most dynamic cities in the Netherlands and the largest port in Europe, hosted the LUCI City under Microscope gathering over 170 city representatives and lighting professionals from 35 cities on 27 – 29 March 2019.

Deputy Mayor of Rotterdam Bert Wijbenga welcomed participants to the event, organized by the City of Rotterdam and LUCI, for two days full of networking and learning on the lighting strategy of Rotterdam via conference sessions, keynote speeches, workshops and demos.

The event saw urban lighting professionals – ranging from municipal lighting managers, technical experts, industry leaders, urban planners and lighting designers – come together in an atmosphere of positive energy, facilitating productive exchanges and inspiring new ideas.

A resilient city ready to face future challenges

The city of Rotterdam, which rebuilt itself after being almost completely destroyed during World War II, shared how it is preparing for the challenges of the future.

Following a presentation from Paul van de Laar, the General Director of Museum Rotterdam on the history of Rotterdam’s urban development, a keynote speech from Jan Rotmans, Professor in Sustainability Transitions at Erasmus University Rotterdam, addressed some of the major challenges facing the world today – such as rising intolerance and climate change – and some of the steps that the City of Rotterdam is taking to deal with them.

Participants gained an insight into some of the city’s major lighting projects, the design and technical choices made, and the reasons behind them.

These included the dynamic street lighting pilot in the Bredenoord residential district (with partner Rubenvan Bochove) as well as the new LED lighting for the historically classified Maastunnel (with Rutger Mullemeister), which aimed to recreate the look and feel of the tunnel’s original HPS lighting.

Another highlight was the presentation on the lighting design of the Willemsbridge, one of Rotterdam’s major landmarks, by Christian Freisfeld of Studio DL who explained the concept and implementation of the lighting for the bridge, as well as revealing a city’s identity via light. Participants also had the opportunity to see a few of these projects first-hand during an evening bus tour of lighting in Rotterdam.

Rotterdam is unique for its many public space light art installations featuring, or inspired by poetry, and this was the main focus of the session, with speakers sharing their different perspectives on light, art and poetry.

The session highlighted the important role of public art and culture in cities, both within the city as a tool for storytelling and fostering inclusion, and also beyond city borders, as a catalyst for creative collaboration with other municipalities and artists across countries and continents.

A series of innovative projects from the region were also on the agenda, aiming to help participants broaden their perspectives and experience new state-of-the-art planning tools.