People to get say in the shape of towns and cities of the future
“CITIES are a big deal,” says Swiss-born British philosopher Alain de Botton. “We pretty much all have to live in them. We should try hard to get them right.”
He will be pleased to know, then, that Irish people could become increasingly involved in shaping the cities in which they live, according to the Irish Architecture Foundation (IAF), which will release its strategic five-year plan on Thursday.
The Foundation creates “Ireland’s most innovative events, projects, exhibitions and resources inspired by our built environment,” according to its website.
“From the ground up, movements are more prevalent than they use to be,” says Nathalie Weadick, Director of the IAF, which wants to “melt the walls” between civic and cultural institutions and city dwellers.
As she explains: “The quality of the built environment can have an impact on our lives. People say that our environment shapes us, so we should be able to shape our environment. People are passionate about where they come from and places are made up of stories and generations.
“Where we live is part of our DNA and our identity. If given the opportunity to shape our environment, we should take it. We are the experts on our neighbourhood, after all.”
Over the past number of years, Ms Weadick says “there is a growing awareness from people and communities to want to come together and get involved in collective action”.
As a result, in recent times, the IAF has been developing a project called “Reimagine…” where even children are getting a say in the future of their neighbourhoods.
As Ms Weadick explains: “We are working with the community group Imagine Dundrum to include the voices of children and young people in the Local Area Plan for Dundrum in Co Dublin and with the civic and cultural institutions in Tallaght to ‘melt the walls’ between the institutions and their nearest neighbours, activating the public realm in between.
As part of the project, in another area of Dublin — Ballyfermot — a play and skate park has been designed and will break ground this year.
Now the IAF is set to expand to almost half-a-dozen towns throughout Ireland.
“We are taking Reimagine… to five towns this year,” says Ms Weadick, adding that the group has yet to identify the towns.
She says that the IAF wants to ensure that the communities needs are at the core of the outcome. “Be it as simple as a need for more benches for an ageing community, a safe, welcoming place for young people to meet, a temporary pavilion or intervention.
“These communities will work with design teams that could include architects, landscape architects engineers and planners.”