Our partner ‘The Daylight Academy’ released a new flyer “Why do we need daylight?” It addresses the issue of insufficient daylight in urban areas.
The Daylight Academy includes members from twelve countries across multiple disciplines. They encourage innovative ideas in daylight research and its applications, providing a platform for idea exchange.
Daylight is a central aspect of public health. In urban areas, many people face limited access to daylight due to being indoors and also air pollution plays a role. Insufficient exposure to daylight can lead to disrupted biological rhythms, sleep disorders, inadequate vitamin D levels, myopia and mental problems. This publication addresses the issues that come with living and working indoors with a lack of daylight.
The flyer explains the properties of sunlight and skylight and their role in areas such as art, aesthetics, health, and wellbeing.
In settings with limited daylight, it is suggested recreating daylight's characteristics with electric light. This is recommended in the new European Daylighting Standard EN 17037, which recommends optimising daylight in interiors while limiting glare.
The impact of light on health is also explained. It discusses the need for bright, blue-rich white light during the day and low-intensity warm white light after dusk to enhance wellbeing.