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Light up the dark

In Uppsala, Sweden, darkness falls early in winter. This means children have only a few hours of daylight each day to go out and play. So, with the help of the city government and lighting design consultancy Bjerking, we launched an experiment with our innovative Connected LED-lighting, Philips CityTouch. We wanted to see if we could we give a class from a local kindergarten more time to play outside in Tegnerparken and help improve the quality of their lives.

Light up the dark 2015

Philips and Uppsala city government perform a city lighting experiment to light up a playground.

No light.
No fun.

Light plays a crucial role in regulating our circadian rhythm, the natural biorhythms of our body clock, and in the production of our hormones. It’s proven that light, particularly in winter, has a beneficial effect on mood and general quality of life. So when children can’t play outside because it’s too dark, they can suffer from a higher incidence of the ‘winter blues’ and lethargy.
Before Philips CityTouch lit up the park, the class from the local kindergarten spent an average of just 72 minutes a day playing outside.

Defeating the winter blues

By installing Philips CityTouch Connected LED-lighting at Tegnérparken, we saw children being active and happy, still playing outside even though the daylight had gone.
In the week following the installation, children spent on average 37% more of their time playing outdoors.

Making a positive difference to children's wellbeing

The ‘Light up the dark’ experiment in Uppsala explored how giving the local kindergarten children more opportunities to play outside would affect them. The results speak for themselves.

38%

of parents played outside with their children every day after the new lighting had been installed.

57%

of parents reported seeing a noticeable improvement in their child’s mood when they played outside.

28%

of parents reported their child had a better appetite after outdoor play.

43%

of parents reported a positive impact on their kids’ sleeping patterns.

You can really work with light. It gets kids outside and they can move and they will be healthier.”

 

Louise Hallin

Child psychologist

The power of play 

Child psychologist, Louise Hallin explains how light can positively affect children’s health.

The future is already here with CityTouch. We used the latest technologies – like LED that is very energy efficient.”

 

Tommy Törnqvist

Key account manager, Philips

Lighting up the park

Lighting expert, Tommy Törnqvist talks about the different types of lighting solutions we used and why.

It’s so dark for such a long time during winter that the kids will benefit from this immensely."

 

Mary Dimopoulos

Science teacher and mom of two, Uppsala

The family

A local mom tells how her family look forward to longer hours of light and play.

Together we created a whole different park. It's like the difference between night and day.”

 

Per-Erik Johansson

Government official, Uppsala Kommun

The difference between night and day

Local government official, Per-Erik Johansson reveals how the whole city could benefit from projects like this.

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