Step beneath these massive red flowers in Jerusalem’s Vallero Square and they’ll bloom before your eyes, offering light after dark and shelter from the rain. The interactive installation by HQ Architects reacts to pedestrians and traffic, their crimson textile petals filling with air when motion is sensed nearby.

Standing 30 feet tall in two pairs on opposite ends of the square, the flowers can be seen from afar, providing an eye-catching visual for visitors to a busy nearby market. In addition to functioning as public art and street lights, the flowers provide cover to commuters getting on and off the tram.

When the square is full of action, the flowers billow, creating a sense of movement. They go still when all is quiet late at night, their petals closing. An air compressor is built into the top of each one. Named the ‘Warde Project,’ the installation is part of an effort to revitalize a square that felt a little shabby. [Photos by Dor Kedmi]

Street lights are a ubiquitous part of the urban landscape – so much so that most of us hardly notice their presence at all. What would happen if improving the aesthetics, functionality and environmental footprint of street lights suddenly became a priority? A few forward-thinking designers would have a head start. These concepts for improved street lights may just be the lights that guide us in the coming years.

Solar Trees

(images via: Ross Lovegrove)

Taking streetlights off of the sometimes-unpredictable electricity grid is a priority for many designers. Ross Lovegrove created the Solar Tree, an LED-lit fixture that relies on the power of the sun to illuminate the streets. The array of up to ten leaf-like photovoltaic (PV) structures soaks up solar energy during the day and stores it in integrated batteries. When the built-in light detectors sense that the sun has set, the lights flip on, using much less power than traditional street lamps.

Flowlight

(images via: Shane Molloy)

The Flowlight uses an incredibly powerful natural force to light the way: tides. Designer Shane Molloy used the tidal river called the River Sur as the basis for his design, which would light up piers and other waterside areas. A water turbine-equipped arm dips down from each light into the water, gathering energy from the movement of the waves. The arm floats higher or lower depending on the position of the tide, ensuring that it never misses an opportunity to build up some more energy for lighting the path after dark.

sTREEt

(images via: Kibisi)

Utilizing a brand new kind of network or grid, the sTREEt concept would connect neighborhoods through a series of “urban furniture” pieces. The central part of the plan is the “mother tree,” a tall structure outfitted with lots of solar panels. The big “tree” feeds energy to smaller structures all throughout a neighborhood. These smaller modular structures feature changeable configurations which can be set up as just street lights or street lights with advertising space, convenient seating, or even fun swings.

EnergyMe

(images via: Dido Studio)

Would you donate your gym time for the good of the city you live in? That’s what the designers of the EnergyMe street light concept would like all of us to do. In order to keep the street lights on, the EnergyMe system requires citizens to walk, run, push, pull and pedal their way to fitness. The energy spent on working out is translated into power for street lights. The concept not only cuts down on the environmental impact of street lighting, but encourages everyone to get out and exercise.

Urban Green Energy Renewable Street Lamps

(image via: UGE)

As a commercially-available product, the renewable street lamp from Urban Green Energy has already proven that off-grid lighting is possible. The dual-powered street lights utilize both wind and solar energy to power lights that illuminate streets, parking lots and walking paths. The built-in battery keeps each light going for 3-5 days in the event that the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow. As an added incentive to businesses looking to add this type of eco-friendly light to their properties, the street lights also include ample advertising space.

Windtulip

(images via: Yanko Design)

Designer Mebrure Oral shakes off the usual stereotypes about ugly wind turbines with the Windtulip design. Meant to look like a sleek piece of urban art, the Windtulip is actually a covert energy-producing turbine. Its top spins with the wind all day, every day, charging the internal battery. When the sun goes down the efficient LEDs light up to illuminate the cityscape.

Dial4Light

(images via: Dial4Light)

Dial4Light is a German startup company that doesn’t want to change the way street lights look – just the way they work. Rather than keeping all of the lights in any given city on all night, their concept lets users tell the lights when they are needed.Citizens call a special phone number to turn on the street lights in a particular zone that they will be traveling through. The system has been implemented in several German towns already and is not without controversy, particularly since some localities require users to pay for the privilege of using street lighting.

Energy Seed

(images via: Yanko Design)

When you use up the batteries in a favorite gadget, the chances are very good that there is still at least a little power left in them. The Energy Seed street lighting concept from designers Sungwoo Park and Sunhee Kim would use those leftover bits of power to light city streets and sidewalks at night. Each light is “planted” in a pot with little round battery receptacles in the top. Users plop their old batteries in and the device (either through magic or some sort of unexplained mechanism) turns the leftover juice into illumination. Obviously this concept would need to be refined and expanded significantly before it could be introduced as an actual product, but the idea of using every last bit of stored energy is an appealing one.

Sunflower Street Lights

(images via: Tuvie)

A very straightforward and easily understandable design, the Sunflower street light from designer Riis Ros simply uses solar power rather than grid power to light up its surroundings. The “petals” of the sunflower feature PV panels on top and lights on the bottom, spread out in an array that does indeed resemble a flower. Entire gardens of these solar-powered flowers could one day light up towns and cities around the world.

Intellistreets

(image via: Intellistreets)

Perhaps the most controversial street light since towns changed from gas to electric lamps, the Intellistreets light is much more than just a light in the dark. It also features speakers, digital signs, a dual band transceiver, an emergency alert system, and a camera. It is, understandably, this last part that makes some people wonder whether this next-generation street light will be used to spy on citizens in the near future. The Intellistreets lamps were already introduced in parts of Michigan in 2011; according to city officials, they will help cities save money by using less energy and only operating when needed.

We all gaze upon the humble traffic light nearly every time we climb into a car and take a journey, whether it’s down the street for a jug of milk or across the country for a great adventure. Around the world, the design is remarkably standardized, deviating only a little from one continent to the next. But is the familiar design really the best design? Or is the traffic light due for an overhaul? According to the designers behind these concepts, there is a way to improve on that most recognizable of urban landmarks.

The Colorblind-Friendly UNISignal

(image via: Dornob)

For people who have trouble discerning the difference between red and green, stoplights can be daily challenges. Particularly in places where the stoplights are situated horizontally, telling the difference between “stop” and “go” can be far from intuitive. This concept from four innovative designers would use shapes along with colors to give traffic directions, thereby eliminating any confusion about whose turn it is to go.

Control Safety Traffic Light

(image via: Yanko Design)

When traffic lights were invented, there were serious limitations on their functions based on the materials that were available. Today, LEDs can do so much more than the light bulbs of previous generations, giving traffic lights almost unlimited potential. This traffic light concept would give speed limit and road condition information to waiting motorists while displaying a special “emergency” signal for approaching emergency vehicles, telling all other traffic to halt and let the emergency vehicles go by.

The Eko Stoplight

(image via: Yanko Design)

Designer Damjan Stankovic believes that we can go a little way toward saving the world if we stop idling our cars for so long at stop lights. And how would we accomplish this feat? By knowing exactly how long we have to wait at red lights, of course. His timed stop light concept would tell drivers exactly how long remains until the light turns green, giving them time to shut off their engines and wait patiently or prepare to race ahead.

IBM’s Controlling Concept

(image via: Wikipedia)

IBM wants to employ the same concept as the Eko Stoplight, but without relying on drivers to make any decisions. Their recently patented idea would actually control the engines of participating cars, shutting them off at long lights and allowing them to start again once the light changed. In addition to saving on gas at long lights, the system could potentially prevent accidents in people who choose to run red lights or simply get impatient and creep too far out into the intersection while waiting. Of course, not everyone would be excited about the prospect of handing over control of their car engines to stoplights, but for now this patent refers only to a theoretical application.

The Luxofor Traffic Light

(image via: Wired)

Russian design studio Art Lebedev has come up with an elegantly simple redesign of the traffic light, one that doesn’t rely on gimmicks or technology. Their Luxofor Traffic Light would feature square lenses rather than round ones since the round lenses are no longer necessary (they were designed to be used with bulbs, not the LEDs we use today). The shape would allow more visible area for the signal, thereby making the traffic lights easier for motorists to read.

Hourglass Traffic Lights

(images via: Yanko Design)

In the belief that knowledge is power, this traffic light concept tells motorists exactly how long is left before the light changes to its next phase. Cycling through the regular green, amber and red phases, the lights are arranged in an hourglass shape that “empties” from top to bottom to display just how much time remains until the next color in the cycle. This concept would be an absolute disaster for colorblind drivers, but it’s a fun rethinking of this classic design.

Solar-Powered Four-Way Traffic Lights

(image via: The Design Blog)

Pedestrians are often faced with danger when trying to cross the street in busy urban areas, so designer Hojoon Lim devised a new type of solar-powered traffic symbol that would keep pedestrians and cars out of each other’s way. The system consists of four signals at each intersection in the shape of a square. Whichever side has to wait for the moment is greeted with a thin laser signal blocking the way, giving a harmless visual cue that is perhaps a little harder to ignore than the standard red light.

The Marshalite

(image via: Wikipedia)

Of course, many of these fancy electronic designs have a classic design to thank for their inspiration. The Marshalite was invented by Charles Marshall in 1936 and employed a mechanical pointer to indicate what the cars should be doing at any given time. Thanks to the sweeping hand that moved at a predictable speed across the colored segments, motorists knew exactly how long remained until the signal changed. The Marshalite was used in Australia until the 1970s, but its design influence can still be felt today.