You don’t need to go to Berlin or Paris to see what could have been. You only need to get the Dart to Dún Laoghaire
You don’t need to go to Berlin or Paris to see what could have been. You only need to get the Dart to Dún LaoghaireThe atmosphere in Temple Bar was pleasant enough: tourists snapping selfies of pints held aloft, the sickly smell of luminous ice-cream, a man dressed as a leprechaun joshing with passersby. Photo: Tom Honan.
The announcement that Dublin City Council was beginning its work on its Temple Bar Square Area Improvement Scheme was greeted with a strange sense of defeat. Photograph: Gareth Chaneyat the time that it reminded him “of a great line about Dublin in Emilie Pine and Dead Centre’s playAn anti-Government protest vote in the referendums would be a mistake
There is a tendency when discussing urbanism in Ireland to point to cities outside the country, and ask why we can’t have the larger apartments of Berlin, the cafe terraces of Paris, the cycling infrastructure of Amsterdam, and the public space of Copenhagen. But you don’t need to dream continental dreams to consider what could be done better in Dublin city centre. You merely have to hop on a bus or Dart south to the faraway world of Dún Laoghaire.
What’s strange about what has happened to Temple Bar in this latest instance is that it’s so obvious that it is not an improvement. How did this get over the line? Why didn’t anyone involved stop and think ‘this isn’t good, in fact this is bad’?