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A pedestrian underpass, a railway bridge and a car park surrounded by semi-derelict buildings are not features most councils would choose to emphasise. But this underpass has been lit in continually changing coloured fluorescent strip-lights in a tribute to light-artist Dan Flavin. The railway bridge is bathed in a cool blue light, its serenity interrupted by a pulsing red light. And the illuminated walls surrounding the car park have been transformed into an urban gallery showing the work of some of the city's leading graffiti artists.

These illuminated urban scenes were created for the Eastside regeneration project in Birmingham by some of the world's top lighting designers. As part of the European Lighting Designers Association's first workshop in the UK, enabled by Martin Lupton, director of lighting at architect BDP, six unpromising settings were transformed into a showcase for exterior lighting, demonstrating how it can boost people's sense of safety and enhance the urban environment. Birmingham City Council supported the ELDA initiative because it believes "urban lighting schemes can contribute to an improved environment for its citizens".

Exterior lighting is also being used by lighting design consultant Speirs and Major Associates for the redevelopment of east London's Greenwich Peninsula, home of the O2 complex (formerly known as the Millennium Dome) and Greenwich Millennium Village. The scheme is on the opposite bank of the Thames from the perpetually lit office towers of Canary Wharf, so the challenge will be to give this development a coherent sense of place using a sustainable, low-energy solution in this environmentally sensitive area. What guidance do the experts have for anyone wanting to follow their lead?

Be strategic

Mark Major, principal of Speirs and Major Associates, says it is important to think strategically. "Establishing a strong concept is much more important than worrying about the technicalities of how you are going to achieve it," he says.

Lee Gunner, executive lighting designer at Hoare Lea Lighting, says many developers fail to consider how a development will work at night. "Developers have a daytime urban design strategy emphasising the key points such as prestigious civic buildings. But at night, without a lighting policy, this strategy goes out of the window." As a result, says Gunner (who is also studying for an MA in urban design), these civic buildings often turn into "black voids" at night, with pubs and offices becoming the new focus.

Gunner's gripe is that most developers consider lighting an add-on that can help their building compete with an adjacent development, so cities get brighter and brighter with no overall strategy. Another grumble is the indiscriminate use of colour "to try to make their building look more important than it needs to be".

Jonathan Rush, senior lighting designer at Hoare Lea, agrees about the lack of controls on lighting. "There are light pollution guidelines but they are limited," he says. "External lighting levels and intensities are usually controlled by the local planners," he says. According to Rush, the key issues for external lighting schemes are:

• Upward light pollution, which can create "a perpetual dawn" if not addressed
• Nuisance light, such as light falling on people's homes and in particular through bedroom windows.

Once the lighting designers have decided on a scheme, it is vital to get the electrical design engineers involved early in the design process to ensure the concept is buildable. On more complex projects, some clients use a systems integrator to help pull together the lights, controls and electrical systems.

In addition to the method of installation, maintenance also needs to be considered. "If you put a spotlight at the top of a building, you have to ensure people can access it to maintain it safely," explains Rush.

Paying the bills

A particular issue for regeneration projects is funding the external lighting. Rush cites a regeneration scheme where lottery funding was used to pay to light a significant building. However, after the area had been regenerated, maintenance of the lighting became the responsibility of the building's owner. He says this could become a problem - particularly where an owner's funds are limited, or a new owner takes on a scheme.

The rapidly escalating cost of electricity has also become an important factor, particularly for public clients. When Speirs and Major re-lit the interior of St Paul's Cathedral, the practice developed a scheme that was extremely energy-efficient: the highest-powered lamps on the scheme use just 100 Watts. However, designing a low-energy scheme takes great skill.

If energy efficiency is a key objective of a scheme, designers should consider LEDs. These are tiny light bulbs, but without a filament that would burn out so they last for a long time.

As lighting technologies continue to develop, the exciting schemes seen in downtown Birmingham could start to appear elsewhere.

If it happens, nobody from the second city will be surprised. After the workshop, the council was so impressed with the feedback from visitors and residents that it plans to develop a lighting masterplan for the city and has joined Lighting Urban Community International - a network of cities that are using lighting design to improve urban life and development.