Paradigm of The Urban Nighttime Aesthetic

Robotropolis from "Sonic the Hedgehog OVA"
(1996). Altered with Photoshop 7.0

Science tells us that black is the representation of all color absorbed, while white is the representation of all color reflected. On paper, this doesn't really mean all that much, but in application, we can come to a few conclusions. Because white reflects color, it automatically distorts any color within its vicinity.If you want a single color represented in its most vibrant form, you place it on a black backdrop. Or, alternately, you apply a black filter to the foreground, which makes white far less prominent to your vision and causes color to pop out in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

The truest black humans are subjected to is the absence of the Sun, also known as the night sky. At night, individual light sources stand out, with powerful ones able to be seen from miles away. Thus, beautiful displays such as those above can only be viewed properly when the sun goes down. Night culture is its own form of art appreciation, and stems from the flirtation of color uncensored. Understanding this, other forms of nighttime allure begin to make sense.

There are other benefits to living in the darkness. The temperature, for example, is far more stable than it is during the day, especially in summer. There'd be far fewer heat deaths if people slept during the day and conducted themselves during the mild summer nights. But more than that, a preference for the night would allow us to address some of our pressing nighttime issues.

Movements have begun to retrofit entire cities with energy-saving, higher-luminosity LED streetlamps, as well as using LED in large buildings which would benefit most from it. Now, that sounds well and dandy, although many regions face opposition on the grounds of those savings not really being appreciated aesthetically. After all, why go through the trouble of completely overhauling a city's nighttime fixtures if nobody will be around during the night to appreciate them?

Thus, the issue becomes one not of finance, environment or anything of a political nature. Rather, it becomes one of paradigm, of culture, or humans fighting to create and preserve something beautiful. As summer creeps into North America, we as a people should work to push a nighttime agenda, to open others' eyes to the clarity and purity of the night. In turn, they too shall fight for it. That's the hope, anyway.

In the near future, paradigm will be the root cause for a large number of ideological battles.