Liberties Greening Strategy - Dublin

@Biennal Internacional de Paisatge Barcelona

The Liberties Greening Strategy was a combination of proposals in 2015 for new green spaces, the enhancement of key streets and civic spaces, the refurbishment and enhancement of existing green spaces, greening measures for streets, and measures to improve linkages and legibility in Dublin, Ireland. The strategy sought, among other things, to provide allotments, community gardens, and pocket parks within the Liberties neighborhood, which is historically working class and has the least amount of accessible green space in Ireland by neighborhood. (When the strategy was published, the neighborhood had 0.7 square meters of green space per person compared to 49 square meters per person for the entire jurisdiction of the Dublin City Council). The Dublin City Council commissioned landscape architects Áit Urbanism + Landscape to produce the strategy in 2015 in the context of stalled municipal development due to the Great Recession and grassroots activism that advocated for greening vacant spaces. The strategy represented progress on and implementation of the 2009 Liberties Local Area Plan. The policy instrument is still ongoing.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Dedicated strategy, plan, or law

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Water management (e.g. reuse)
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Air quality
Social cohesion
Social equity
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

This strategy creates new and improves existing green areas and increases access to heritage green areas in a historically disadvantaged community. The greening strategy intends to provide access to various recreational and social activities to improve human well-being that were not possible earlier due to poor urban planning. One of the specific goals is "to ensure all children living in The Liberties are within a short 5-8 minute walk of a high quality and secure play space and all residents are within a short 2-5 minute walk of high quality green space" (p. 7). Since 2015, the strategy has provided for two new community parks, the improvement of several other green areas, and the greening of various public spaces. It has also provided measures to enable food production in community gardens and allotments, revitalize ecosystems, strengthen water management, improve air quality and increase carbon sequestration through tree planting, divert water from the local sewer network, prevent flooding, and provide heat control.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Allotments, community gardens or agricultural areas

Green areas for water management

Derelict areas

Good practice characteristics:

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

Parks and Landscape Services Division of Dublin City Council

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The strategy is an initiative of the Parks and Landscape Services Division of Dublin City Council in collaboration with the South Central Area Office. The strategy was prepared with the assistance of Áit Urbanism + Landscape and Mary Tubridy & Associates as a result of grassroots activism advocating for greening vacant spaces in Dublin in the context of the Great Recession and prior municipal plans to improve quality of life in the Liberties neighborhood.

Involvement of non-governmental actors:

Private sector, corporate, business

Type of actor involvement:

Co-planning or co-design of instrument (e.g. boards, advisory role)

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

In implementing the Liberties Greening Strategy, the Dublin City Council has consulted with community members in the designing process, specifically in the case of the two new parks.

Type of non-governmental actors involved:

Citizen councils or consultation for co-planning (e.g. workshops, surveys)

Targeted actors:

Private: household, real estate developer, business , financial

Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public regional budget

Budget:

Above 10 000 000€

Details about instrument financing:

Between 2015 and 2020, over 15 million euro had been invested in new projects.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

The baseline with which to monitor the benefits of the strategy has been formed through the green infrastructure audit of existing green spaces together with background surveys undertaken as part of the Greening Strategy.

Did an evaluation take place?:

Yes

By using the same scoring methodology used to assess the green infrastructure, the benefits of the existing open spaces are calculated. The spaces are then graded to reflect this score. Spaces that achieve a score of 4 or less are considered to be of low Green Infrastructure Value. Open spaces with a score of 9 or more are of high Green Infrastructure Value. Scores of 5-8 are considered of moderate value. For the purposes of scoring, the benefits are weighted to give greater emphasis to key green infrastructure.

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

The Quantitative Benefits of implementing the proposals within the Greening Strategy can be summarised as follows: new and enhanced urban habitats and the diversification of local flora and fauna; improved air quality and carbon sequestration (maturing and mature trees); climate adaptation (increased tree cover will provide additional shading during warm summers and percolation of high wind); more sustainable water management by introducing porous groundwater by diverting surface water runoff from the Victorian sewer network; energy and cost savings in wastewater treatment and improved water quality; and improved access to green space and recreation. The Environmental Improvement Plan seeks to ensure all children living in The Liberties will be within a short 5-8 minute walk of a high quality and secure neighbourhood scale play space and all residents are within a short 2-5 minute walk of high quality green space and will have high quality urban linkage for walking and cycling providing shorter routes and enhanced permeability. The development of allotments and community gardens as well as environmental education resources for local schools and adult training initiatives are further outcomes. Qualitative Benefits can be summarised as follows: enhanced landscape, quality and sense of place; protection and enhancement of the setting of major archaeological assets and built heritage; perceptions of safety and security; and enhanced health and well-being of residents through recreation and access to high quality urban landscape.

Success factors and lessons learned:

Some local residents feel that the Liberties was not successful in providing ample public space. Instead, they notice processes of green gentrification and the fabric of their neighborhood changing with the development of artisanal distilleries or promotion of a digital hub economy. Nevertheless, they underline that the methodology adopted for this project is robust and could be re-applied to other urban locations within Dublin or elsewhere in Ireland, providing a scoring method to benchmark the Green Infrastructure performance of green spaces and entire urban areas. However, some criticize the strategy for prioritizing the interests of developers over community members

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Mullally, Una. 2018. “Una Mullally: Dublin Council May Waste a Golden Opportunity in the Liberties.” The Irish Times. December 10, 2018. https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/una-mullally-dublin-council-may-waste-a-goldenopportunity-in-the-liberties-1.3725289.

Dublin City Council. 2015. “The Liberties: Greening Strategy. "https://www.dublincity.ie/sites/default/files/content/RecreationandCulture/DublinCityParks/Documents/liberties%20greening%20strategy.pdf.

The Liberties Dublin. 2020. "Greening The Liberties: Five Years on." Available at: https://libertiesdublin.ie/greening-the-liberties-five-years-on/. (Accessed: 25 July 2020).

Biennal Internacional de Paisatge Barcelona. "The Liberties Greening Strategy." Available at: https://landscape.coac.net/en/node/1135. (Accessed: 25 July 2022).

The Journal. (2017). "'It's been jammers': Dublin just got its first new public park in 8 years." Available at: https://www.thejournal.ie/weaver-park-3625832-Oct2017/. (Accessed 3 October 2017).

Photos

@Bienal Internacional de Paisatge Barcelona