We’ve always known a bit of sun is good for our health.  We always crave for that invigorating sunny stroll in the park, babies appreciate early morning sun baths, and even animals take time to sun themselves.  With a few rare exceptions, most living creatures on the planet instinctively gravitate towards the sun. 

The premise of Up: escaping the skyscraper-choked city to somewhere sunnier.

That said, sunlight have always played an important factor in the design of cities.  Ancient civilizations such as the Mayans have built their cities according to the sun, deliberately positioning their structures to align with the sun’s rising and setting.  That served a religious and an astronomical purpose, which goes to show that even back then we have been harnessing the sun through strategic positioning of our buildings.

Centuries later and not much has changed—our natural tendency is still to seek out the sun.  Urban planning exploits this instinct to build and develop better cities for all of us. 

Sunny, Walkable Cities

It makes total sense to build with the sun in mind.  Urban planning factor in a sun-path component to their city models when designing new developments or improving existing ones.  Ignore that sun-path analysis and you end with a building that’s inefficient in harnessing the sun, and instead will just bake in heat and glare all year round.  Worse, a collection of badly oriented infrastructures will effectively block everyone’s solar access. 

And that’s not a good thing to have in a supposedly walkable city.

What people in urban planning have found out is that sunlight influences foot traffic on a street at various times of the day.  And that people prefer walking past shops and stores rather than blank buildings.  Again, the sun plays a big role here—merchandise looks better in the natural available light of the sun, which is why retailers pay a premium to be on the sunny side of the street.

Right to Light

It’s interesting to note that in England, they have a law called Right to Light, which essentially forbids building any obstruction to a window that has been receiving daylight for the last 20 years or so.  That’s just how important light is.

Locals enjoy sunny strolls at a park in Boston. (Image from Huffingtonpost.com)

With many skyscrapers currently being planned and constructed, and which threatens to shadow everything else below, that precious solar access is a big consideration more than ever.  All the more reason to enjoy those sunny patch of land in our cities—the parks, plazas, gardens, and squares—that have been spared for us by good urban planning.

Currently, LEED awards points for daylighting a building, not just for energy savings but because daylight access has a remarkable effect on one’s well-being.  In hospital settings, daylight is especially important to promote healing and rejuvenation.