This study examines festival lighting practices in Indian urban residential communities, focusing on cultural significance, user experience, recurring cost, and sustainability. A three-phase research design was adopted, comprising a literature review of forty-one scholarly works, field observations across twelve residential societies during five festivals in Ahmedabad, a survey of 241 residents, and twenty-four semi-structured interviews with society committee members and lighting practitioners. Quantitative data were summarized descriptively and supported by a paired comparison of annual contribution and willingness to pay, while qualitative data from observations, open-ended responses, and interviews were analyzed thematically. The findings indicate that lighting is perceived as central to festive atmosphere, participation, and community identity, yet current practices rely heavily on temporary, repetitive installations that generate recurring expenditure and limited long-term value. Residents expressed interest in reusable, controllable, and multifunctional lighting systems, although awareness of lifecycle sustainability remains limited. The study argues that festival lighting in residential communities should be reframed as a user-centered and infrastructural design problem rather than as a temporary decorative arrangement. It concludes by identifying design opportunities for modular, adaptive, and context-sensitive lighting systems suitable for small urban communities in India.
Prajapati et al. (Thu,) studied this question.