Dublin’s inner-city communities, the disabled and older people are “too often” excluded from conversations on plans to revitalise the capital, the director of the Irish Architecture Foundation has said.
Speaking in advance of a major European architectural conference in Dublin, Emmett Scanlon described as “curious” how little input there was from key groups into a landmark Government plan aimed at tackling issues besetting the city-centre such as widespread dereliction, underused buildings, litter and a sense of menace.
The report from the Taoiseach’s Taskforce for Dublin, published last year, provides what it calls a “blueprint” to renew and enhance the city. It lists 10 “big moves” seen as a means of doing so.
Though representative groups, including the Disability Federation of Ireland, and city councillors are “stakeholders” in the plan, Mr Scanlon said it was “an awful pity” there was no direct consultation with the disabled, older people or the thousands of people living locally in social housing.
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The two-day conference at Dublin Castle, starting on Thursday, will involve delegates from 25 cities and aims to examine how cities can “promote inclusion, foster connections, and unlock their full potential for all inhabitants”.
Sessions will, according to the conference website, examine “participatory democracy, the creative reuse of existing structures and universal design homes”.
The first “big move” promised in the taskforce report is to “revitalise O’Connell Street and environs”.
During a stroll on the nation’s main thoroughfare this week, Mr Scanlon welcomed “the big vision” set out by the report, with plans to finally tackle the street’s vacant sites, redevelop the GPO as a “major public building” and convert above ground-floor spaces for residential use.
However, he said it is crucial for people to feel “part of the city project” given this is the most effective means of ensuring its success.
“The World Health Organisation talks a lot about participation in the public life of the city. If you are not afforded the opportunity to get out and be part of the city project it damages your health and wellbeing, makes you feel isolated and lonely,” he said.
O’Connell Street is “like no other in Europe”, Mr Scanlon added. “It’s broad, it’s big, the architectural intent of the buildings is incredibly beautiful – really high quality stone, granite and brick ... It has great majesty, it has elegance”.
And yet, he said, “it feels like a place you move through, a transient place. It doesn’t feel, yet, like a place where you would like to come and stay and rest.”
Immediate steps to address this issue could be to further reduce traffic and greatly increase “places to sit”.
“There are very few benches on the street ... One reason older people do not [come into the city] is they do not have access to seating or public toilets, where they can pause and rest.”
He said there is “no reason why people should not be living” in buildings on the street. Challenges, such as fire-safety and access, are “surmountable” and he cited Ranelagh as a suburb where most shops have homes above them, accessible from the street.
People making homes on O’Connell Street would drive positive change, he said.
“If you have people living on the street they start to drive care through their appropriation of it. They come out their front door, get their coffee, clean their windows, watch the street ... They get into a relationship with the city where they are taking care of it and it starts to take care of them.”
While many see architecture as “being about buildings”, he said it can be a “public health instrument” when architects and planners “consult deeply with the communities about how they live, what they need and value”. This is not happening enough, he believes.
“We need big visions and plans for the city, but at the same time we need supports for everyday care and activities that change things. The people who drive those activities need to be listened to and supported as much as the big stakeholders and the big vision.”
Details of The City Invites conference can be found here.
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