City Lights: Lightscapes and Night Scenes of Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Cities have been intensely studied by social scientists and especially by human
geographers. Yet, the kind of phenomenon studied usually focuses on daylight urban space and the nightscape of cities is relegated to secondary importance. Using the case of Rio de Janeiro nightlife this paper investigates the processes and the effects of lighting on the streets of big cities and the possible composition of scenes into cityscapes.