Methods to Address Light Pollution on an Urban University Campus

Use of artificial light at night is important for campus communities to support pathway and roadway navigation. However, excess nighttime light can impact human and environmental health, as well as waste energy and resources. To support the University of Alabama at Birmingham's status as a health-promoting university, the Campus SHINE Lab (Physics Department) and the Facilities Department are collaborating to reshape the campus nightscape to reflect the values of health and sustainability. Their projects include creating a map of campus lighting using GIS mapping technology, evaluating the extent to which current campus lighting aligns with recommended practices for responsible outdoor lighting, surveying campus community members about their perspectives on outdoor lighting, assessing day vs. night crime rates, and providing guidance to Facilities for their 2025 Campus Master Plan update. One result of these efforts eventuated a change in university protocol: adopting a new standard for the correlated color temperature of campus lighting - 3000K - to align with the recommendation by the American Medical Association.