The company Molo Design has recently introduced a bag that is called HOBO LANTERN. This bag provides individual lighting to its user. This introduction into the market made many people talk, among them somebody on Contemporist’s blog: “Hobo Lantern is a portable luminary inspired by the urban nightlife of Zona Tortona during Design Week. Hobo comes to life with an energy-efficient LED light source glowing through its delicate pattern of translucent fiber.”

After learning about this new design recently launched, a few questions came to mind: How can light enrich while at the same time simplify the human experience in an urban environment? Can we push the intellectual and creative limits towards innovative and appropriate lighting solutions that will allow the rehumanization of our urban spaces?

Many of you will say that such a bag does not provide lighting powerful enough to ensure a safe level of lighting at night to its owner. And you would be right… at least for now. Wouldn’t it be interesting if people had their own light source that follows them everywhere and lights their immediate surroundings when they need it? In a world where everything is becoming more and more individualized and personalized, how can we get something as common as street lighting on a personal level?

Rehumanize our urban spaces
One of the challenges designers and landscape architects face is to humanize our public spaces. We want to recreate warm urban atmosphere where people are. In order to achieve this, several designers adopt a personalized vision. How can a citizen interact with its environment so that he is under the impression that he is an integral part of it? The lighting could be the way to do so. The citizen could choose the type of lighting he wishes when it comes to its intensity, its shape, and even its color. The person could even take possession of his own source of light at the entrance of a park, for example, and use it as he sees fit depending on whether he wishes to read a novel on a park bench or have fun with children playing games outdoors. In this example, citizens can enjoy the park, each in their own way.

And what if the limit was just our own imagination?