Lighting Strategies for Urban Public Spaces Using SWOT and QSPM: A Case Study of Karim Khan Zand Street, Shiraz

Various strategies can be used to provide proper lighting in urban public spaces. As such, this paper aimed to present and prioritize the strategies for urban street lighting using descriptive-analytical and case study methods and the techniques of interview, observation, and review of the related literature and visual documents so as to provide an opportunity for improving the quality of public spaces at night. To this end, Karim Khan Zand Street in Shiraz was selected as a case study. In the present study, SWOT analysis matrix was used to identify the optimal strategies for improving the quality of street lighting of Karim Khan Zand Street and Quantity Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) was applied to prioritize these strategies. The items of SWOT matrix were specified and weighted based on interviews with a sample group of 25 experts who were selected by snowball sampling method. Based on the results of interviews with experts, overall, 12 internal factors (consisting of seven strengths and five weaknesses) and 12 external factors (including seven opportunities and five threats) were identified. Among the strengths, active uses and behavioral bases at night across large sections of the street that provide lighting for sidewalks in the absence of pedestrian lighting have the highest final scores. In addition, among the external factors, providing the necessary lighting on the path of pedestrians in order to increase security is considered as the most effective opportunity. Given the final total points of the internal (2.667) and external factors (2.568), the selected strategies seem to have been the aggressive ones. The results of the study suggest that strategies of proper lighting throughout the pedestrian path and a greater emphasis by lighting on the intersections of the roadway and the pedestrian path, providing appropriate conditions for the use of space at different times of day for various social groups, and emphasis on street linings by proper lighting are of the highest priority compared to the other strategies.