Freiburg Lighttoolbox

Develop and implement measures for sustainable light management together with Fribourg communities.

Visit project page (in German)
Canton of Fribourg (Switzerland)
  • 2021 - 2024

  • Client

    Canton of Fribourg

    Beneficiaries

    Local governments

    Inefficient and unsustainable lighting practices can place an unnecessary burden on municipal budgets and disrupt the natural day-night rhythm of people, animals, and plants. Although there is a legal basis and corresponding implementation support for municipalities, they often lack the human resources and time to address the issue in depth.

    With the support of the Canton of Fribourg, 10 municipalities were sensitised to the problems of light pollution in a process lasting several months; they developed a corresponding sustainable lighting management strategy and received the necessary support to implement it. In participatory workshops, a sustainable lighting management strategy was developed together with the municipalities. These workshops are based on the specially developed “Light toolbox”, which helps municipalities to systematically design and implement a needs-based light management strategy.

    This first project cycle concluded at the end of 2022 with a closing event, where participating municipalities were able to demonstrate their progress in implementing their strategy within one year.

    The second cycle was launched in 2023. The aim of this cycle is to give other municipalities access to the topic of “lighting” and to show them solutions and courses of action.

    seecon offers the municipalities awareness-raising workshops based on the “Light toolbox” and also supports them in the application of the implementation plans of the strategy resulting from the workshop. In specific, we carry out the following activities:

     

    Co-create and design

    • Joint development of strategies and action plans associated in the field of light management at community level.

     

    Empower

    • Enabling communities to reflect on a complex issue and develop appropriate action plans in a short period of time.
    • Personalised advice to communities during the implementation of action plans.

     

    Reach and connect

    • Organisation and facilitation of workshops for community representatives.

    Links to publications

    • Official Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) website on light pollution and light toolbox (In German)
    • Light Toolbox Flyer (In French)

    Let’s work together!

    Are you interested in holding a workshop about the Light Toolbox in your community? We are here for you.

    Contact us