Newspaper Articles
P. Anthony Reddy, November 9th 1995.
For years the centre of Dublin has been redeveloped in a haphazard way, with no proper planning framework. Architect Tony Reddy says it is about time the city got one.
The recent renewal of interest in living in the inner city, particularly in Dublin, has made it easy to forget just how derelict the city centre had become by the mid-1980s. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of unsatisfactory development due to the absence of a proper planning framework and a coherent vision for the city. There has been criticism of the urban design and architectural quality of many of the new developments.
The new design guidelines issued by the Department of the Environment have set down standards in relation to site planning, communal facilities, internal design and layout, apartment types, sizes and floor areas. These should ensure better standards in future apartment developments.
However, it is in the area of urban design that many of the existing schemes fail to achieve a satisfactory standard. This is best illustrated by a view of the Liffey quays, between Arran Quay and Ormond Quay, where the conflicting treatment in terms of materials, heights, base and parapet levels create a jarring effect.
As the redevelopment of the quays occurred in the absence of a coherent framework plan, it was inevitable the overall effect would be disjointed regardless of the ability of individual architects or developers who took the risk, these criticisms should not obscure the significant achievements in regenerating Dublin's urban core as a result of the Urban Renewal Act.
The physical impact of renewal has been very substantial. The population of the inner city has begun to stabilise - it is even rising in some areas after more than a century of decline.
Between 1986 and last December 4,696 residential units had been created in the inner city, with a further 1,579 units under construction and another 6,322 at planning stage. When these are all completed, they will provide for an increased population of at least 20,000.
And this is happening just a decade after the Eastern Regional Development Organisation (ERDO) settlement strategy for the Dublin area doubted that a population increase of 10,000 could be accommodated in the inner city without a change in public policy.
That came in 1986 with the tax incentives for urban renewal, and led to an unprecedented and quite unexpected boom in apartment schemes.
But all of this development, and the changes in living patterns which it implies, has placed significant strains on the local authority structure and, in particular, the planning system. What we need is to learn from the experience of the past decade to ensure that the next phase of urban renewal is carried out to the highest international standards.
While the traditional planning technique of broad-brush zoning is suitable for planning suburban areas, it is not adequate for the complexity of the inner city, where a clear statement of the local authority's objectives is required.
