The City Council of La Laguna has launched a pilot project for heritage lighting on San Agustín Street, which will feature a unique design and citizen participation. The initiative, co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and the Government of the Canary Islands, aims to create a lighting model that respects the historical identity of the old town.
The City Council of La Laguna opened a citizen participation process this Thursday to define the future lighting of San Agustín Street, one of the most emblematic streets in the historic centre declared a World Heritage Site. The pilot project, which is part of the World Heritage Site Management Plan, aims to replace the current lighting with a system that combines functional, ambient, ornamental, and artistic lighting, avoiding so-called 'historical fakes'.
The councillor for Land Planning and Cultural Heritage, Adolfo Cordobés, explained that this is the first time La Laguna will have its own lighting design that is coherent with its architectural identity. "It is time to innovate to better care for the only World Heritage city in the Canary Islands," Cordobés pointed out, highlighting that the process will be conducted with transparency and technical rigor.
For his part, the councillor for Municipal Services and Citizen Participation, Fran Hernández, emphasised the cross-cutting nature of the project, which involves several municipal areas. "La Laguna is a reference in citizen participation and sustainability," Hernández stated, who believes that this initiative "makes our municipality greater".
The first citizen workshop was held this afternoon at the Urban Planning Office, where residents could contribute ideas about the symbols, scenes, and stories that will be part of the new night reading of the street. The co-director of Urbanfix, Jonathan Sicilia, the company responsible for the participatory device, indicated that the session continues the process initiated in April for the Management Plan.
San Agustín Street, one of the ten most beautiful streets in Spain, will be the setting for this pilot project, which has a strategic investment within the Management Plan. The initiative is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, the Government of the Canary Islands, and the City Council, and is directed by the Office of Comprehensive Management of the Historic City (OGICH).
The project plans to use specific technology to project narrative content onto the pavement and facades, avoiding historical fakes. Cordobés explained that many of the current lampposts, considered historical, are actually a Madrid design from the 19th century implemented in the 1980s without citizen participation. "They mislead about the true configuration of the urban space," he stated.
The initiative will be developed in a controlled, reversible, and evaluable manner, and citizens will play a leading role in choosing the elements that will make up the new lighting. The goal is to ensure a correct reading of the city's history, aligned with UNESCO and ICOMOS standards.
Councillor Cordobés recalled that the evolution of lighting in La Laguna has been discontinuous: from oil lamps to industrial lighting from the 20th century, passing through the first permanent light points in the 1840s. This aesthetic succession has highlighted the need to define a unique model.
This afternoon's workshop also addressed historical contextualisation and criteria for heritage intervention. San Agustín Street has been recognised as one of the ten most beautiful streets in Spain, adding value to the pilot project.
The participatory process will continue in the coming weeks, with new sessions to gather contributions from residents. The City Council expects the new lighting system to be operational in the coming months, once the designs and technical tests are completed.
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