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Nov 07, 2023

Simon pilots new ‘smart city’ lighting at Brea Mall

Steven Sayers, general manager of Brea Mall, is seen with Sensity Systems'

Steven Sayers, general manager of Brea Mall, is seen with Sensity Systems' Everest LED High Mast Luminaire light.

A Sensity Systems Everest LED High Mast Luminaire light illuminates a Brea Mall parking lot.

The smart light array lit up in the dark.

During daylight hours it is easy to see the unique design of a smart light array at the Brea Mall.

Smart cities is a buzz phrase of the 21st century. From Copenhagen to Detroit, cities are trying out technological infrastructure to be more efficient, watch traffic and catch crime.

But in the private sector, businesses are seeing how this technology can give them a competitive edge. And where else to start but the American mall.

The Brea Mall is the first mall in Southern California to get smart lighting, piloting it for its owner, Simon Properties, which plans to expand its use across the U.S.

Nearly 500 lights – on poles, on entrances, in garages – are now equipped with software invented by Sunnyvale-based Sensity Systems. Its sensors can detect poisonous gas, a gunshot or an earthquake.

But in the case of malls, smart lighting can be handy for much simpler uses, such as sensing parking congestion and helping pinpoint a vulnerable area after a rash of car break-ins.

"How do you compete long-term with online retailers who know everything about you?" Sensity Systems CEO Hugh Martin said.

"That's information they want to be able to provide to their tenants."

The data could eventually lead to the mall developing applications to make brick-and-mortar shopping easier.

"Finding a parking spot, I think people would say, is one of the more frustrating parts of going to a shopping center," Brea Mall General Manager Steve Sayers said. "Down the road … we’ll be experimenting with identifying where an empty parking spot is and somehow – we don't know how yet – to let them know where that spot is."

Sensity found that using lights as data-collection points was an easy way to segue cities into the future.

"Lights are where people are. Lights are where activity is," Chief Privacy Officer Scott Shipman said.

And cities are already changing to LED lighting, so it's cost-effective, he said. Sensity installs the software at the same time as the new energy-saving lighting.

Also, the sensors in the lights can detect movement, dimming when there's no one around, which can cut energy costs by 95 percent, Shipman says.

But there are critics. Privacy advocates point to the importance of transparency about all aspects of data, from its application and collection to how the information is used.

"Good privacy practices aren't just how the technology works, but how the company chooses to inform the consumers about how they use the data … and the opportunity to make a choice," said Matt Cagle, a technology and civil liberties policy attorney for the ACLU of Northern California.

Shipman agreed with the sentiment and said the company asks its clients to be as transparent as possible.

Brea Mall is using the smart lights to monitor lighting and traffic congestion and aid security. The cost of the system was not disclosed.

Sayers noted the sensors or cameras wouldn't capture personal data, such as license plates, and the mall does notice where there is recording.

There isn't specific information posted about how the smart lighting system works.

Unlike the surveillance we see on television, Sensity's light systems aren't monitored by people in some back room.

The data is interpreted by a computer, officials said.

The customer decides when and how data is collected and, unless the data are tagged, they will be erased in 30 days. Law enforcement can request data.

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