By the time I first visited Dublin's O'Connell Street, Nelson's Pillar was long gone - blown up by the IRA in 1966. The loss of the column or more probably the closure of all but one of the cinemas seems to have triggered a decline, with the street becoming "a garish strip of discount stores and fast food restaurants " and "a no-go area after dark due to drugs and street violence ". I can testify to the garishness, but not the other problems.
The response of the City Council was to produce an Integrated Action Area Plan for the O'Connell Street area. (Incidentally the list of plans at this link covers a huge part of the central area of Dublin with what looks like huge investment by both public and private sectors.)
The plan looks at an area wider than just O'Connell Street and takes in the adjoining properties back as far as Marlborough Street on one side and Moore Street on the other. In also extends north to include Parnell Square and south across the river to College Street, along with Westmoreland Street and D'Olier Street."
The focus of this plan is "the development of a range of uses that generate animation, vitality and the kind of atmosphere that draws all sectors of society into the street and makes people want to stay."
(See here for the latest published report on this project. )
A key part of the O'Connell Street plan is improvements to the area in front of the Post Office, a building with iconic status in the history of the Irish Republic. On my last visit this work was almost finished. The transformation is substantial with some very interesting approaches to the balance between traffic and people.
Key to the area is of course the 'spike', replacing Nelson at last, with a monument that is both beautiful and imposing. The changes that have the most potential impact however are at ground level. Two lanes of traffic have been removed and traffic management measures elsewhere seem to have reduced the volume of car traffic significantly – a side effect being that I still haven't worked out how to reach my normal hotel from the airport!
The whole area in front of the Post Office has been repaved. As the photograph shows this has been done with materials that almost entirely remove the difference between road and pavement. In this area, the pedestrian will be in charge. Traffic lights still exist, but when traffic has stopped the whole area becomes clear for pedestrians to cross at any point. The way in which materials have been used would I think be likely to give the average traffic engineer a fit, although it seems to build on ideas common in Holland and Germany which themselves developed out of Home Zones or Woonerf.
Trees have been planted creating an enclosed square framing the Post Office - note the square clipped shape. I assume the intention is for these trees to grow together creating a kind of aerial hedge. A similar device has been used in the new Wolf Tone Park, elsewhere in the City Centre. (I have some photographs of this park, which I will post another time.)
It is too early to tell how effective these measures will be in attracting the range of activities and uses the plan seeks. The signs however are promising.
For some images of the Spike under construction see here.
