But what role does outdoor lighting play in it?

The jury is still out on what exactly constitutes a “smart city”. The term is used to apply to technical, economic and social innovations meant to make our cities more efficient, sustainable and pleasant to live in. 

Moreover, the smart city is expected to find solutions for urban challenges such as pollution, demographic change and population growth. The innovations associated with the “smart city” are not necessarily new; what is new is that they are now linked with one another and with the city as living space for the first time.

This spawns a host of innovative options where light is needed or is a design element in the public sphere and opens up new approaches for modern urban planning: for example light columns and bollards can dim their light not just to suit the weather, but also in relation to traffic frequency.

Thanks to their sensors they help find parking spots, provide wireless Internet access, have small information displays and loudspeakers, serve as electronic signposts and

charging stations for e-bikes and electric cars. Service and maintenance can be controlled centrally and almost automatically. Consequently, street lighting can be an ideal and practical conveyor of innovation.

An ideal choice: bollard luminaires, which are accessible from all sides and can be transformed into flexible energy and information stations by adding special modules. However, luminaires offering so many features do not come off the peg.

Diverse shapes and a large choice of designs coupled with sophisticated technology call for individuality. And to ensure costs remain reasonable we rely on the module principle. This means that both small series and one-offs can be easily tailored to customers’ needs.