CURB – Center for Architecture and Urbanism will launch the Guide to Neon Signs in Macau, the first publication entirely dedicated to documenting and celebrating this unique feature of the city. The launch is scheduled for January 29 (Thursday) at 6:30 p.m. at Ponte 9 – Creative Platform.
The work offers a detailed record of Macau’s neon landscape, highlighting its cultural value and the risk of many of these installations disappearing due to urban redevelopment.
The neon signs that have illuminated the streets of Macau for decades are more than just illuminated signs: they are symbols of identity, linked to everyday life, collective memory, and the history of local neighborhoods and businesses. Based on photographs collected throughout 2025, the guide allows readers to visually explore this urban heritage, which has become an inseparable part of the city’s nightscape.
The project is part of a broader research and documentation effort promoted by CURB, with funding from the Cultural Development Fund, to preserve this endangered heritage.
The launch will be attended by the project’s author, Filipa Simões; architect Nuno Soares, president of CURB and project coordinator; and Wilson Kam, the project’s photographer. CURB invites the public to discover and appreciate these luminous icons of Macao before some of the lights go out for good.
Filipa Simões is a designer, teacher, and researcher in the field of urban culture, with several publications dedicated to urban art and design, including the Guide to Urban Art in Macau (2023), now complemented by the new guide dedicated to neon.
