De-escalate : defusing escalating behaviour through the use of interactive light scenarios

Almost on a daily basis, the media report of behaviour escalation: situations run out of control because individuals or groups become frustrated, agitated, often resulting in verbal or physical acts of aggression. Such situations may occur in crowded outdoor situations (public events, urban night life) as well as in small-scale indoor settings (prisons, service & help desks, psychiatric wards). Defusing escalation in any of these situations is no mean feat and generally requires the presence and active intervention of experts trained specifically for this purpose. A recent project studies the utilisation of interactive lighting design in de-escalation, by examining psychological pathways through which exposure to dynamic lighting might defuse escalating behaviour. Based on a review of the current literature, we present our vision and theoretical framework, which should provide the basis for empirically exploring light as a means for de-escalation.