Moonlight vs. Artificial Light: A Comparative Study on Visitors' Experiences of Nightscape Within Urban Green Spaces

Abstract

Enhancing the nighttime environment of urban green spaces to improve visitor's experiences plays a pivotal role in realizing the full functional potential of these spaces and promoting the health and well-being of residents. However, the predominant focus of designers tends to be on artificial illumination within nightscapes, often overshadowing the consideration of natural lights such as moonlight. In this study, a total of 44 photographs of nightscapes with and without artificial lights at half- and full-moon nights respectively were taken using digital cameras at 11 sample sites of urban green spaces. Scored by college students, these photographs were assessed according to visitors' experience in five dimensions. The results indicated that at both half- and full-moon nights, the average scores of the five experience dimensions in artificial lights were higher compared with moonlight conditions. However, at full-moon night, no significant difference in aesthetic preference, relaxation, and interestingness between artificial light and moonlight conditions was found; whereas, in terms of safety and willingness to visit, the scores under artificial light condition were significantly higher than those under moonlight. At half-moon night, there was no significant difference in aesthetic preference between artificial light and moonlight conditions, but the other four experience dimensions were significantly higher under the artificial light condition. These findings provide a theoretical basis to support the reintroduction of moonlight into urban green spaces.

● A comparative study on differences in visitors’ experiences of nightscapes within urban green spaces between artificial light and moonlight conditions

● At half-moon night, there is no significant difference in aesthetic preference between artificial light and moonlight conditions

● At full-moon night, there is no significant difference in aesthetic preference, relaxation, and interestingness between artificial light and moonlight conditions

● It is promising to introduce moonlight into nightscapes of urban green spaces as a partial substitute for artificial illumination

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Urban Green Space / Nightscape / Artificial Light / Moonlight / Visitors' Experience / Light Pollution / Comparative Study

1 Introduction

Urban green spaces serve as important places for urban residents where people can connect with nature and unwind. Visiting urban green spaces can significantly improve visitors' physical health^[1] and relieve mental stress^[2]~[4]. As the pace of contemporary life accelerates and social competition heightens, nighttime hours become residents' main timeframe to use green space, particularly for most youth and the middle-aged because of their busy daytime schedules^[5]. Therefore, exploring people's nighttime experiences within green spaces plays an important role in maximizing the multifaceted functions of urban green spaces and enhancing urban residents' satisfaction of life.

Since the invention of incandescent lamp in 1879, nighttime artificial illumination has undergone rapid development. For urban green spaces, its role has transcended from simply lighting toward a myriad of contemporary services, including spatial zoning, ambient enhancement, and traffic guidance^[6]. However, the proliferation of artificial illumination also brings an array of adverse effects on human well-being and ecosystems, such as light pollution, which is defined as the unwanted or excessive artificial lights^[7]. Light pollution is a recent environmental pollution in addition to air, water, waste, and noise pollution problems, which may inhibit plant growth^[8] and interfere with animal behavior^[9], thus threatening the biodiversity and ecological balance within a region^[10]. Light pollution also causes a large amount of energy waste and carbon emissions, exacerbating the degradation of the global environment and leading to the disappearance of beautiful night sky—the fact is that more than one-third of global population cannot see the Milky Way anymore in their daily lives^[11]. Beyond its ecological ramifications, light pollution is also harmful to urban residents' physical and mental health, causing the onset of various diseases^{[10] [12] [13]}.

Existing studies have evidenced the therapeutic efficacy of natural environments as healing spaces. Compared with built environments, natural environments can more effectively contribute to relieving individuals' mental stress^{[14] [15]}. As a natural element, the significance of moonlight in relation to human physical and mental health, as well as its impact on visitors' experiences at night has been long neglected in both theoretical and practical contexts. Reintroducing moonlight into urban nightscapes holds the potential to extend residents' visual and psychological horizons, and effectively reduce the health risks associated with light pollution and circadian disruption. The natural charm of a moonlit sky would contribute to the therapeutic role of urban landscapes^[16]. Moonlight is usually regarded as an important element in the composition of nightscapes in traditional Chinese gardens^[17]. However, with the advent of artificial illumination, the role of moonlight in the nightscape of urban green spaces has gradually faded from the considerations of designers. Questions pertaining to the effectiveness of moonlight integration into urban green spaces, its influence on nighttime visiting experiences, and the feasibility of its partial substitution for artificial lights remain unanswered in existing literature. This knowledge gap has hindered the efforts of introducing moonlight into urban green spaces. This study compared visitors' nighttime experiences within urban green spaces with and without artificial lights, aiming to provide a theoretical basis for the introduction of moonlight into urban nightscapes.

2 Research Methods

2.1 Sample Sites

By the end of 2021, the area of urban green spaces in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province, reached 17,749 hm², with a green coverage rate of 43.3% in urban areas, and the green space per capita amounted to 17.7 m².^[18] The city has various types of green spaces, including urban parks, botanical gardens, forest parks, scenic areas, wetlands, and post-industrial reclamation parks. In this study, three parks within the Yunlong Lake Scenic Area were selected, namely Yunlong Park (built in 1958, covering an area of 30.7 hm²), Binhu Park (built in 2001, covering an area of 53.3 hm²), and Jinshan Park (built in 1993, covering an area of 2.1 hm²). Each of these parks enjoys a local renown for its unique features and attractions. Based on a comprehensive survey on the nightscapes of these parks, this study selected a total of 11 sample sites (5 in Yunlong Park, 4 in Binhu Park, and 2 in Jinshan Park), using the stratified random sampling method. The sample sites cover three landscape types that are popular by visitors at night—waterfront (2 sites), recreational plazas (5 sites), and pathways and trails (4 sites)—and all of them are equipped with lighting facilities.

2.2 Photographs

When conducting on-site surveys, numerous uncontrollable factors such as ambient sounds and the presence of other visitors would significantly affect individuals' experiences^{[19] [20]}. Meanwhile, there would be disparities between illuminated and non-illuminated conditions—urban sounds and the number of visitors would largely decrease when lights are off. Another fact is that in some green spaces, artificial lights are often turned off after midnight, which may bring potential risks to respondents. In addition, the need for each respondent to enter sample sites alone, to avoid interactions between respondents, might also raise ethical concerns. Therefore, this study used photographs as proxies of real nightscapes. Although this method has limitations, such as the inability to fully reflect the real nightscape experience, and the inconsistent quality of photographs by different photographers and photographic devices^{[21] [22]}, it has advantages of high efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and the facilitation for comparative evaluations^[21]. This method has been successfully applied in nightscape evaluations^[23].

The sample sites were photographed at nights on April 7 (halfmoon) and April 27 (full-moon), 2021, which were both working days with clear weather. Photographs were taken from 20:00 to 01:00 of the next day (artificial lights were turned off at 22:00 in Yunlong Park and at 00:00 in Binhu Park and Jinshan Park), using a Sony digital camera (Sony NEX 3N, 35 mm for focal length). The camera was configured in the automatic night mode with an aspect ratio of 3:2, at an average height of viewing in nightscapes (1.70 m). Photographers should take photos from the same position and camera angle at both half- and full-moon nights within each sample site, and no human figure should be included in these photographs (Fig.1). A total of 44 photographs were taken (4 for each sample site, including one for the half-moon night with artificial lights, one for the half-moon night without artificial lights, one for the full-moon night with artificial lights, and one for the full-moon night without artificial lights).

Fig.1 Photographs taken at 11 sample sites with and without artificial lights at half- and fullmoon nights.

Full size|PPT slide

2.3 Survey Process

This study recruited a total of 78 college students of different majors from China University of Mining and Technology as respondents, who were divided into two groups, 39 students for each. Gender ratios of respondents in these two groups were nearly the same (21 males and 18 females in the first group, 20 males and 19 females in the second group). According to Andrew Lothian, in subjective assessment, reliable results can be achieved with the minimum respondents of 30^[24]. Thus, the respondent size ensured the reliability of this study.

The 44 photographs were named half-moon group and fullmoon group. The 22 photographs comprised in each group were presented by 11 slides, exhibiting the images with and without artificial lights taken on the same sample site. The two parallel photographs on each slide, named A and B, were displayed in a randomized order projected on a white screen measuring 1.6 m × 1.2 m. Respondents were asked to vote for the preferred image in five dimensions of visiting experience: aesthetic preference, safety, relaxation, willingness to visit, and interestingness (Tab.1). Respondents made their selections based on their personal perceptions. The next slide was shown only when all respondents had completed their selection of the current slide.

Tab.1 Visitors' experience questionnaire

Please carefully compare the two photos A and B, and answer the following five questions (tick "√" in the corresponding option)
Questions	Options
1. Which photo do you think is more beautiful?	A□	B□
2. Which photo makes you feel safer?	A□	B□
3. Which photo makes you feel more relaxed?	A□	B□
4. Which of the landscapes represented by the photos would you prefer to visit?	A□	B□
5. Which photo is more interesting to you?	A□	B□

2.4 Data Analysis

If Photograph A was voted for a particular question, it was assigned a value of 1, and Photograph B assigned a score of 0. Each photo might obtain a score ranging from 0 to 39 for each dimension of visiting experience. All collected data were statistically analyzed using SPSS 17.0. The results of normal distribution, assessed through the Shapiro–Wilk's test, and the homogeneity of variance via Levene's test showed that, except for the dimension of relaxation under the condition of no artificial light at fullmoon night (p = 0.035, < 0.05), all the other data conformed to the normal distribution (p = 0.509 ~ 0.894, > 0.05) and all passed the homogeneity of variance test (p = 0.287 ~ 0.776, > 0.05). Thus, one-way ANOVA was used to compare visitors' experiences with and without artificial lights during the same moon phase.

3 Results

3.1 Comparison of Visitors' Experiences With and Without Artificial Lights at Half-moon Night

For the half-moon group, the average scores of the five experience dimensions with artificial lights were higher than that without artificial lights (Fig.2). The result of one-way ANOVA showed that, except for the aesthetic preference, the scores of the other four dimensions with artificial lights were all significantly higher compared with those without artificial lights (Tab.2).

Fig.2 Average scores (± standard error) of five visiting experience dimensions at 11 sample sites under artificial light and moonlight conditions at half- and fullmoon nights, using letters a and b to represent the significant difference at the 0.05 level.

Full size|PPT slide

Tab.2 One-way ANOVA for visitors' experiences with/without artificial lights

	Half-moon			Full-moon
	F	p		F	p
Aesthetic preference	2.106	0.162		0.952	0.341
Safety	1,044.404*	< 0.001		225.984*	< 0.001
Relaxation	7.695*	0.012		0.091	0.766
Willingness to visit	149.647*	< 0.001		10.209*	0.005
Interestingness	12.414*	0.002		2.996	0.099

NOTE*indicates the difference is statistically significant at the 0.05 level.

3.2 Comparison of Visitors' Experiences With and Without Artificial Lights at Full-moon Night

Consistent with the results of half-moon group, the average scores of the five experience dimensions with artificial lights were higher than those without artificial lights at full-moon night (Fig.2). The one-way ANOVA analysis result revealed that there was no significant difference in aesthetic preference, relaxation, and interestingness with and without artificial lights, while scores of willingness to visit and safety with artificial lights were significantly higher than those without artificial lights (Tab.2).

4 Discussion

4.1 The Overall Role of Moonlight in Urban Green Spaces

Moonlight, as a natural element in the nightscape of urban green spaces, carries profound cultural connotations in traditional Chinese culture, where the moon is symbolically associated with beauty. The integration of moonlight into urban green spaces would play an important role in fostering a cultural atmosphere and enhancing its attractiveness. Findings of this study show that at full-moon night, there is no significant difference in aesthetic preference, relaxation, and interestingness with and without artificial lights; even at halfmoon night, there is no significant difference in aesthetic preference between the two conditions. These results suggest that moonlight possesses the potential to serve as a partial substitute for artificial lights, especially at full-moon night.

4.2 Analysis of the Dimension of Safety

To the authors' knowledge, this study pioneers the role of moonlight in visitors' nighttime experiences within urban green spaces, providing a theoretical basis for reintroducing moonlight into nightscapes. Notably, the results of this study show that, compared with other four experience dimensions, visitors' perceived safety with and without artificial lights fluctuates the most at both full- and half-moon nights. This discrepancy can be attributed to human's innate fear of darkness, especially their limited visual capacity during nighttime. Therefore, enhancing visitors' perceived safety without artificial illumination is a prerequisite for reintroducing moonlight into urban green spaces.

First, drawing from the information processing theory, the more (less) information people obtain from the environment, the more (less) safe they feel^[25]. In the nightscapes with poor lighting conditions, visitors would optimize the use of auditory and olfactory senses to obtain environmental information, which to a certain extent can make up for the limitations of reduced visibility. Previous studies offer some useful clues. The research by Pingjia Luo et al. verified that introducing birdsong or playing classical Chinese music could significantly enhance visitors' perceived safety during nighttime use in constructed spaces^[23].

Second, more open spaces can be created to enhance landscape permeability^[26], allowing moonlight to infiltrate, enhancing the overall visibility of the place and thus the sense of safety.

Third, attracting more visitors into nightscapes of urban green spaces without artificial lights would help with the gathering of small social groups, which act as a form of social supervision that can effectively bolster people's perceived safety in the site^[27]. Also, safety is closely related with other perceptions, for instance, an increased sense of safety can significantly influence the aesthetic preference^[28] and foster a relaxed atmosphere within the environment^[29].

In summary, efforts to significantly improve safety in nightscapes without artificial illumination can pave the way for the feasible replacement of artificial lights with moonlight at specific moon phases, particularly around full-moon nights. Such a transition not only yields economic effects (e.g., saving energy, reducing cost of lighting facilities) and ecological benefits (e.g., decreasing light pollution), but also may enhance visitors' experiences within urban green spaces. In addition, it contributes to the protection of natural night sky, allowing urban residents to better enjoy the beauty of moonlight, starlight, and the sounds of night creatures. This will also benefit human health and contribute to the construction of livable cities and sustainable development.

However, the cyclical change of moon phases leads to the variations of moonlight brightness in a lunar month. The nights that have full-moon brightness only account for about 10% of each lunar cycle. Therefore, the strategic addition of artificial lights becomes a vital consideration to complement moonlight, according to moon phases, weather conditions, and landscape features of the site, so as to strengthen visitors' overall experiences of nightscapes within urban green spaces.

4.3 Analysis of the Dimension of Willingness to Visit

The findings of the present study reveal that the willingness to visit nightscapes in moonlight is significantly lower than that in artificial lights at both half-moon and full-moon nights. Although this study does not test the relationship between safety and willingness to visit, previous research has pointed out that the presence of risks would exert a significant negative effect on the willingness to visit^[30]. This phenomenon can be attributed to the significant decrease of perceived safety when artificial lights are off. Consequently, design interventions can be used in improving the safety of nightscapes to enhance people's willingness to visit. Moreover, the willingness to visit urban green spaces is also affected by their function, scenic resource, and characteristic activity and effect image^[31]. Therefore, improving the aesthetic value of nightscapes through appropriate lighting design and meeting users' diverse activity needs present a way to encourage their willingness to visit.

4.4 Analysis of the Dimensions of Relaxation and Interestingness

At full-moon night, there is no significant difference in relaxation and interestingness with and without artificial lights. While, at half-moon nights, scores of the two experiencing dimensions with artificial lights is significantly higher than those without artificial lights. This suggests that when the lighting within green spaces is notably insufficient, the relaxation and interestingness of visitors would further decrease accordingly, necessitating artificial lights for ensuring visitors' experiences. This also implies that lighting design should wisely consider moon phases, so as to protect the natural night sky as much as possible while minimizing any significant reduction in relaxation and interestingness of visitors. Furthermore, the objects illuminated by artificial lights also depend on the functions of nightscapes. Previous literature has evidenced that illuminating natural elements is particularly effective for mental stress relief^[32]. These findings provide specific guidance for the lighting design of nightscapes within urban green spaces.

4.5 Limitations and Future Research

This study has the following limitations.

1) The use of photographs as the stimuli: photographs can only convey visual information, whereas visitors' experiences of a landscape site involve a comprehensive perception process that includes auditory, olfactory, tactile, and other senses, especially in low-light conditions where people's visual capacity is restricted; even if only visual information is considered, there may be differences in experiences between photograph assessment and on-site evaluation.

2) Homogeneous participant demographics: the respondents recruited for this study were college students, who share similar age and educational level that may limit the generalizability of findings. Previous studies have demonstrated that the age and educational level of respondents can influence respondents' assessment results of aesthetic preference and safety^{[33] [34]}.

3) Exclusion of human figures in photographs: in order to eliminate the impact by other visitors as much as possible, the photographs used in this study excluded human figures. However, this is somewhat divorced from the reality of the public usage of urban green spaces, and the presence of other visitors implies social supervision, which may have a non-negligible impact on visitors' experiences. In addition, in most cases, visitors seldom visit a park alone at night, while this study did not consider the possible influence of companions on visiting experiences.

And 4) the effect of additional artificial lighting sources: this study treats the green spaces as a natural moonlight environment when artificial lights are off, without accounting for the effect of additional artificial lights (such as street lighting and the lights from surrounding buildings) cast, directly or indirectly, into the green spaces, which may also have influence on visitors' experiences.

The above limitations can light the directions of future research, such as recruiting respondents of higher representativeness, conducting on-site evaluations, and analyzing the impact of the quantity of visitors within a given nightscape, as well as the number and the identity of companions, on visitors' experiences. Such studies may benefit from addressing these aspects to deepen our understanding of the relationships between the non-artificialillumination nightscapes of urban green spaces and visitors' experiences, providing more targeted guidance for the nightscape design of urban green spaces.

5 Conclusions

The rapid development of artificial lights since the invention of the electric lamp over a century ago has brought both advancement and negative consequences: artificial lights provide brightness to human lives while cause light pollution, especially leading to diminishing natural night sky. In response to these challenges, the International Dark Sky Association, founded in 1988, launched the International Dark Sky Places program in 2001 that encourages communities, parks, and protected areas worldwide to protect natural night sky through responsible lighting policies and public education activities^{[35] [36]}. More importantly, though the brightness of moonlight sees variations by moon phases and weather conditions, this program aims at preserving natural night sky as a valuable natural resource, especially in urban areas where natural elements are scarce. In cities, green spaces have become everyday places for people to enjoy natural night sky. Thus, how to strengthen the role of green space in protecting natural night sky and enable urban residents to appreciate and experience the beauty of natural night sky has posed a new challenge for both landscape design and lighting design.

This comparative study analyzes visitors' experiences of nightscapes within urban green spaces under both artificial light and moonlight conditions, and the findings yield practical conclusions. At full-moon night, there was no significant difference in aesthetic preference, relaxation, and interestingness between artificial light and moonlight conditions; at half-moon night, the aesthetic preference between the two conditions also did not show any significant difference. These findings provide a theoretical basis for the integration of moonlight on specific dates and in appropriate weather conditions. This study also concludes that, though the brightness of moonlight varies by moon phases and weather conditions, reintroducing moonlight into the nightscapes of urban green spaces and partially or entirely replacing artificial lights has the potential to bring broad economic, ecological, and social benefits. The research also offers innovative concepts for the protection of natural night sky and the mitigation of light pollution.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank the 78 college students who participated in the surveys.

Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Acknowledgements

● Coexistence of Ecological Quality and Aesthetic Value of Urban Green Space and Optimization of Design, National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32071830)

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