Lyon and Light
Lyon, the light specialist
Today, lighting in Lyon is a given: every stroller who walks through the city at night will note how lighting has become an essential architectural component, one that reveals the city’s treasures without denaturing them.
The Lighting Plan
The Lighting Plan and the top-level skills of local experts have made Lyon a major center of “light design” and urban lighting, whether temporary or long-term.
Started in 1989, the first Lighting Plan was a pioneering initiative with political, technical and artistic impact. By organizing permanent lighting for Lyon, it gave the city a new face and enabled lighting over 250 sites throughout the urban area.
Light is no longer just for security; it has become an essential component of the urban landscape.
In 2004, the second Lighting Plan completed and reinforced the first one. This time, light freed itself from being just a way to emphasize monuments; it adapted to the activities and rhythms of the city, highlighting rivers, hills, silhouettes and major roadways.
Recognized as a distinct art and a profession, urban lighting has become an essential factor in the international impact of Lyon and its suburbs.
Companies from Lyon featuring light designers, artists or architects are invited to share their knowledge around the world.
Their expertise has been exported to outstanding sites:
- the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg,
- the Castillo del Moro in Havana,
- the Ho Chi Minh City Museum,
- the Ryadh el Feth Monument in Algiers,
- the Menara Gardens in Marrakesh and
- the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
In parallel to the growth of light engineering, specific training in the field of lighting has been developed (the professional Lighting Design Management degree, for example), as well as international events (like the Lumiville show).
LUCI
On the strength of its experiences, the City of Lyon, in 2002, took the initiative of creating LUCI (Lighting Urban Community International), a network of over 60 cities world-wide that are convinced that lighting plays an essential role in urban, economic and social development.
A veritable forum of communication, the LUCI network has three objectives:
- Exchange: facilitate exchange between its members by organising field visits, international conferences…
- Promote: highlight best practices and exemplary projects
- Progress: participate in a prospective vision of urban lighting (research projects and actions of assistance…)
Today, LUCI has 98 members:
- 64 member cities: across Europe, America, Asia or Africa, including Paris, Helsinki,
- Moscow, Shanghai, Seoul, Montreal, Ouagadougou…
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36 associated members (lighting professionals, universities, lighting designers…)
LUCI also establishes partnerships with other major lighting associations such as the Cluster Lumière Rhône-Alpes…
Each year around December 8th, LUCI organizes, in collaboration with the Lyon Fête des Lumières, the Rencontres de la Lumière, conferences on urban light and its stakes, with the participation of speakers from all around the world.
The Cluster
On the initiative of the CCI Lyon, a founder group, constituted by PHILIPS, by Comptoir Lyonnais d’Electricité (Group SONEPAR), by ENTPE and CDO (organizer of the show LumiVille) decided to establish a cluster in order to federate and develop know how in lighting sector in Rhône-Alpes.
The cluster Lumière, Is the first one in France around the lighting sector.
It has for vocation to:
- Strengthen innovation around new lighting technologies in answer to economic stakes and sustainable development
- Facilitate competitiveness and development of the regional economic fabric, by the creation of companies’ networks and local, national and international partnerships.
