Panelists:

• Morris Speller, Lecturer in the Johns Hopkins University Writing program, urban historian focusing on race and racism in urban planning and the built environment
• Merrell Hambleton, Director of Public Engagement for the BMA, previous community engagement lead for Inviting Light and Signal Station North
• Glenn Shrum, Founding Principal of Flux Studio and Associate Professor of Lighting Design and Interdisciplinary Practice at Parsons School of Design (@flux_studio_ltd)
• Marie Anderon, Baltimore City Planner for the Northern District
• Moderator: Maura Dwyer, Community Design Works Project Coordinator at the Neighborhood Design Center

Description of Panel:

Light has always played a pivotal role in shaping public safety and nighttime activity. In fact, the first public light infrastructure wasn’t a physical object but people—a foot patrol carrying lanterns that became the first form of institutionalized police in Baltimore called the “night watchmen.”

Over time, the notion of “more light” equaling “more safety” and “less crime” became deeply ingrained, but Baltimore’s lighting infrastructure tells a more complicated story—one where the presence and type of light across different communities reflect structural inequities found in other forms of public infrastructure like green spaces, sidewalks, and streets. Just as light can welcome us in, it can also keep us out—making us feel uninvited or unwelcome in spaces that are deemed unsafe or off-limits.

This conversation brings together a local city planner, urban historian, public art and engagement specialist, and lighting designer to explore the nuanced legacy of urban lighting. They will delve into its dual role as a marker of progress and a mechanism of control, drawing insights from Baltimore’s history as the first U.S. city to install gas streetlights.

Panelists will examine projects like Signal Station North and Inviting Light to envision a future where light is reclaimed as a tool for community-defined safety, joy, access, culture, and belonging. Together, they’ll explore how equitable investment in thoughtful, creative public lighting can transform perceptions of unsafe spaces and revive vacant corridors—not through a one-size-fits-all approach, but by designing light to resonate with the unique nighttime environment, identities, and aspirations of each community.

From visibility, spectacle, and spiritual awakening to mood, memory, and resistance, this discussion invites us to reconsider the meaning of “lighting” a street—and asks, who gets to invite the light in?

**This is a FREE event open to the public. Reserve your spot!
Accessibility: The MICA Fred Lazarus IV Center is wheelchair-accessible. Thank you to the MICA Fred Lazarus IV Center for their support in providing space for this event.

About Inviting Light:

Informed by the Station North Public Space Plan and Signal Station North, a two-year community engagement, planning, and prototyping process that sought to understand light’s impact on the nighttime environment and our sense of comfort and place, illuminate the city’s lighting history and infrastructure, and bring transparency and access to everyday citizens, Inviting Light’s five distinct artistic light installations will promote safety and further revitalization efforts in a historically disinvested area.

Inviting Light is sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies and facilitated by Central Baltimore Partnership in partnership with the Mayor’s Office and Senior Advisor for Arts & Culture, and the Neighborhood Design Center. Read more about the award here.

For any questions, please email Catherine Borg at [email protected]

Get updates at invitinglight.org and Instagram @invitinglightbaltimore