Detailed Description
The island of Ireland offers a unique lens through which to view the complex and often contested nature of planning and regeneration. This fieldtrip takes in two major cities – Dublin and Belfast – both of which have experienced different but equally significant challenges to their development. The rapid economic growth strategy employed by the ‘Celtic Tiger’ was seen by many to be a positive approach to improving quality of life in the south of the island. However, managing the intensity of such growth and responding to the challenges posed by a period of unprecedented economic development proved to be far more complicated than policymakers, politicians or the public envisaged.
North of the border, Belfast and its surrounding region have some of the most distinct planning and regeneration challenges of anywhere in the UK. Cross-border coordination between the north and south of the island is a fascinating example of collaboration in action (or is it?). The turbulent history of the north means that building bridges between communities is a pressing challenge that policymakers need to address. Understandably then, planning and regeneration are intimately connected with recent attempts to respond to the social, economic, physical and environmental challenges facing the island of Ireland.
Our fieldtrip will examine how policymakers in Dublin and Belfast and their surrounding regions are responding to these challenges through the development and implementation of planning and regeneration interventions. We will explore a range of distinct planning and regeneration issues which are played out across different spatial scales. We will explore strategic responses to managing economic growth and decline in the Dublin city region; the impact of population pressures on the Dublin city-region, including the emergence of ‘ghost estates’; the opportunities and challenges associated with delivering strategic infrastructure projects; the effects of political turmoil and sectarianism on communities; and the opportunities and challenges associated with undertaking community capacity building in divided Belfast neighbourhoods.
