Hangzhou sets new regulations for urban lighting

A few days ago, the reporter learned from the Hangzhou Urban Management Committee that the "Hangzhou Urban Lighting Management Measures" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") will be implemented on February 1 this year. The "Measures" not only stipulates where functional lighting or landscape lighting needs to be installed, but also clarifies that the "black sky protection zone" must be protected to avoid light pollution.

The "Black Sky Reserve" is a special area delineated due to the need to limit artificial light for ecological protection. In recent years, Hangzhou's urbanization process has been accelerated, and urban construction has changed with each passing day. Night scene lighting has become Hangzhou's "golden business card", and night scene tourism is booming. However, with the increase of urban lighting facilities and the expansion of influence, urban lighting has put forward higher requirements for construction and managers, and the long-term and institutionalization of urban nighttime environmental management has become inevitable.

According to the relevant person in charge of the Hangzhou Urban Management Committee, Hangzhou first proposed to set up a city "Black Sky Reserve" in 2013, which mainly includes scenic areas dominated by natural mountainous areas, areas with fewer people and better natural ecology, especially animals and plants. Diversified areas, such as the mountains in the west of the West Lake and the Chaoshan Scenic Area, must be unconditionally prohibited from turning on lights, "not because these mountainous areas are suffering from light pollution, but hope that light pollution will not enter these areas."

The "Measures" stipulate that in the "Black Sky Reserve", no landscape lighting facilities shall be installed, and the functional lighting facilities shall not have upward light. Those who violate the relevant regulations will be ordered by the comprehensive administrative law enforcement agency to make corrections within a time limit; those who fail to make corrections within the time limit will be fined not less than 2,000 yuan but not more than 10,000 yuan.