Evaluation of pedestrian reassurance gained by higher illuminances in residential streets using the day-dark approach

A field study was conducted to investigate how changes in illuminance affect pedestrian reassurance when walking after dark in an urban location. The field study was conducted in daytime and after dark in order to employ the day-dark approach to analysis of optimal lighting. The results suggest that minimum illuminance is a better predictor of reassurance than is mean illuminance. In this study, participant responses were gathered using 6-point scales. For a day-dark difference of 0.5 units, the results suggest a minimum horizontal illuminance of approximately 2.0 lux.