For more than 20 years, Leni’s exploration of light has evolved into a profound understanding of the medium, which informs her unique approach across a variety of genres, including infrastructure, landmarks and the ever-changing urban environment and inclusive of community engagement practice.  

Her work weaves the dramatic and playful possibilities of light onto the fabric of urban life, sparking an expansion of social interaction and activity in public gathering places. 

She is an expert in light planning, with clients in the U.S. such as Downtown Santa Monica, City of Saratoga Springs, 82nd Street Partnership (Queens), city councils in Australia and Colombia.  

Recent lighting design projects can be experienced at sites such as parks, subways and bridges for architects, engineers and landscape architects.  Examples include the New York MTA Subway Refurbishment, Cleveland’s Little Italy transit head-house, Hunters Point South Park (NYC) and Mulberry Commons (New Jersey).  

She directs International Nighttime Design Initiative which is establishing an interdisciplinary profession. Projects for the Initiative include Smart Lighting Guidance for New York State and developing innovative pilots with think-tank, New Urban Mobility.   

Around the world, for a decade, people have joined in the NightSeeing™ Navigate Your Luminous City program. These “LightWalks” have been conducted in New York City, Seattle and Portland, US; London, UK; Bogota, CO; Prague, CZ; Sydney, AU; to name a few metropolitan locations.  

Now, an internationally in-demand speaker, Schwendinger is considered a pioneer and authority on urban lighting and infrastructure. She is the recipient of numerous professional awards and global media coverage. Her prestigious fellowships include affiliations with Visiting Research Fellow at the London School of Economics, Design Trust for Public Space (NYC) and Urban Design Forum.