IES Light + Justice Symposium 2024: Interior Spaces

Symposium Description: 

Everyone deserves good lighting and beneficial darkness, particularly indoors, where most of us spend most of our time. Good lighting is an investment in occupant satisfaction, well-being, and productivity. On Friday April 5, 2024, in collaboration with Light Justice, with event partners IES and Parsons School of Design, held a symposium to explore how indoor lighting quality – especially in public facilities – is generally neglected for marginalized, under-resourced, and vulnerable occupants.

This event builds on IES Light + Justice Symposium: Outdoor Lighting which examined the intersection of outdoor lighting in the public realm with environmental justice and social equity. Indoors, Light Justice means daylighting and electric lighting designed to provide a positive occupant experience. “Light + Justice Symposium: Interior Spaces” is an opportunity for lighting professionals to recognize inequities that can perpetuate inequitable indoor lighting for vulnerable occupants, including people of color, the aging, the impaired, and the incarcerated.

Panels included lighting, design, and outreach experts that discussed both the challenges and benefits of addressing these systemic inequities as an industry, and offered case studies which engage these communities to provide equitable lighting for affordable housing and other facilities.

Welcome: Interior Social Equity: Embedded Hierarchies of Light & Space

Engaging Before Designing

Light Justice starts by connecting with the occupants and stakeholders who will live with the lighting we design. The panelists will discuss how to integrate public engagement into lighting design practice.

Light Justice for Affordable Housing

Just like wealthier citizens, public housing occupants want and deserve good lighting. The panelists will investigate how to influence the lighting design and maintenance of public housing to help residents improve their visual environment.

Light Justice for the Vulnerable

Millions of people, particularly vulnerable populations, live or work in public buildings and have no control over their interior environment. This conversation will examine healthy illumination as a human right.

Closing Keynote: “Where Do We Go From Here?

Watch any of all of the videos from the symposium. You must watch each video in its entirety to unlock the corresponding CEU certificate. Watch all videos to receive a total of 4.5 CEUs.