Inappropriate nighttime light reduces living comfort

Chao Li; Shunsuke Managi

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122173

Inappropriate nighttime light reduces living comfort

Environ Pollut. 2023 Oct 1:334:122173. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122173. Epub 2023 Jul 12.

Authors

Chao Li¹, Shunsuke Managi²

Affiliations

¹ Urban Institute & School of Engineering, Kyushu University, Japan.
² Urban Institute & School of Engineering, Kyushu University, Japan. Electronic address: managi@doc.kyushu-u.ac.jp.

PMID: 37451588
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122173

Abstract

Living comfort is an important aspect of human well-being and a critical index of sustainable environments. Many environmental factors are associated with living comfort. Nighttime light (NTL) is remote sensing data that is widely used to reflect development level and economic status, and it also represents the lighting intensity in living environments. However, the relationship between NTL and living comfort is poorly understood. Here, we employ linear regression and a random forest model to investigate the direct impact of NTL on living comfort. Our results show that increased NTL is negatively associated with living comfort, but this relationship may be obscured by other factors, such as infrastructure. According to the nonlinear relationship, when the NTL is approximately 10 nW/cm²∙sr, there is a peak in living comfort. Hence, ensuring a reasonable level of lighting is a key to promoting sustainable development. Our research offers crucial insights that can aid in developing sustainable development policies to enhance livability.

Keywords: Living comfort; Nighttime light; Random forest; Sustainable environment.

MeSH terms

Humans
Light*
Lighting*
Linear Models
Socioeconomic Factors