Client
City of Ingolstadt

Planned completion:
2026

Project Team DAY & LIGHT
Frank Bernhard Vetter
Stefan Vetter
Julia Wallner

Light shapes our perception of urban spaces – not only during the day, but especially at night. Lighting concepts and lighting master plans make a significant contribution to the design of public spaces, the improvement of quality of life, and the identity of a city. They define squares and pathways, highlight urban structures, and enable intuitive orientation in the nocturnal cityscape.
The Ingolstadt Lighting Masterplan (LMPI) deals with the targeted organisation and design of the urban lighting landscape. It is intended to be a practical tool for urban planning in the coming years – holistic, sustainable, and with a strong design foundation. The goal is to create a balanced, characterful, and environmentally friendly night-time image that appropriately considers both the historic old town and modern urban areas.
A central concern of the LMPI is to overcome the traditional notion that „more light“ is synonymous with „better sight“. For a long time, the quality of lighting was primarily measured by its brightness – by the amount of light emitted by a luminaire. However, excessive, poorly controlled, or glaring lighting does not improve vision – it impairs it. High luminance levels, due to the eye's adaptation behaviour, lead to darker areas being perceived poorly.
The LMPI therefore focuses on visual comfort – the quality of vision in nocturnal urban spaces. Good lighting is characterised not by maximum light output, but by targeted light control, good shielding, and low glare. Only in this way can spaces with a pleasant lighting atmosphere, good visibility, and a high quality of stay be created. Furthermore, high visual comfort also means lower light levels – which is not only technically demanding but also energetically and ecologically sensible.
To meet this demand, all light sources in urban spaces – from street lighting to private and gastronomic outdoor facilities, to advertising and facade lighting – must be considered within a common conceptual and functional framework. The LMPI provides the necessary foundation for this.
With this light master plan, Ingolstadt positions itself as a future-oriented city that comprehensively considers light – as an instrument for urban design, energy efficiency, and quality of life. For a city where you don't just see more, but better.