Main content

Light and Dark

Sociological discussion programme. Laurie Taylor explores the shifting meanings of light and dark and their relationship to the urban night.

Illumination and darkness: Laurie Taylor is joined by Tim Edensor, Reader in Cultural Geography at Manchester Metropolitan University, and author of a study into the ways in which light and dark produce everyday life and the stories we tell about ourselves. In examining the modern city as a space of fantasy through electric illumination, he considers how we are seeking-and should seek-new forms of darkness in reaction to the perpetual glow of urban lighting. They're joined by Robert Shaw., lecturer in geography at Newcastle University, who has studied the relationship between night and society in contemporary cities. He claims that the economic activity of the 'daytime' city has so advanced into the night, that other uses of the night as a time for play, for sleep or for escaping oppression have come increasingly under threat.

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Mon 18 Jun 2018 00:15

Clip

RELATED LINKS

READING LIST

Tim Edensor, From Light to Dark: Daylight, Illumination, and Gloom (University of Minnesota Press, 2017)

Rob Shaw, The Nocturnal City: Routledge Research in Culture, Space and Identity (CRC Press, 2018)

Broadcasts

  • Wed 13 Jun 2018 16:00
  • Mon 18 Jun 2018 00:15

Explore further with The Open University

大象传媒 Thinking Allowed is produced in partnership with The Open University

Download this programme

Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes.

Podcast